Honkai Impact 3rd: Empyrean Reality
by Seiker Hikaru
Summary: "Hated by life itself, all we can do is carry on. There is no stopping a world that desires our demise. So move on, push forward, keep fighting. Rewrite the story, create a world where things can be beautiful again. Fight on, and unweave fate to create your own design."
1. Chapter 1

_Honkai Impact 3__rd__: Empyrean Reality_

**Chapter 1: The Sun and The Moon**

"_Hated by life itself, all we can do is carry on. There is no stopping a world that desires our demise. So move on, push forward, keep fighting. Rewrite the story, create a world where things can be beautiful again. Fight on, and unweave fate to create your own design." – Empyrean Clan Core Tenant_

* * *

_**That day began with a dream for me. A dream of the end of the world. It was me and one other, a figure shrouded in white and surrounded by blazing fire that left him obscured from my vision. The only thing that stood out about him were his cold blue eyes, and the burning blade of the massive sword in his hands, aimed right at me as it's fire flared upwards.**_

"_**Give up. You can't win this battle as you are now. I gave you a chance, and yet you rejected it… so please, I implore you to stop and let yourself be laid to rest." Said the figure, raising the sword and lashing it downwards, flames pouring from the blade and rushing at me. The sword in my hands changed as I lifted it, turning into massive cross, the item splitting open and sending ribbons of sky blue energy to block the flames. "What do you hope to accomplish Soleil?! What will this battle result in?!"**_

_**The flames broke through the barrier formed by the cross, sharp pain splitting through me as the fire lashed my body, causing me to fall too a knee, the cross reverting to a sword and clattering to the ground. But I wasn't going to give up… I couldn't… even if this was our fate… there had to be a way to change it, right?**_

"_**Push forward, and rewrite the story into your own! To fight against fate itself and rip apart it's weave, those are the wills I carry with me! So I'll do just that… I'll rewrite fate itself to save everybody!"**_

"_**Tch, just fall!"**_

_**As the figure lunged to strike at me, that was when my vision filled with sky blue as my hand reached out and grasped tightly to something in my palm, the world itself falling away before me…**_

* * *

_Nagazora City, Japan, Spring of 2019_

_Campus District, Senba Girl's High School_

What would have otherwise been a pleasant sight of falling cherry blossom petals in the late spring on the path to school was marred by the dead silence of the day, all except for Soleil's labored breathing and heavy running steps.

"Of all the things… now?! Something like this happens _now?!"_

He wasn't running because he was late for school. Quite the contrary, last he checked the time he had at _least _half an hour before he'd be late. Soleil was the kind of person who made sure he left school early due to a rather bad sense of direction he possessed.

In fact, this wasn't even his school he was at. A good while ago, he'd seen the sign: Senba Girl's High School. Which begged the question why a seventeen-year-old boy would be at a girl's school early in the morning and running like his life depended on it.

Several reasons actually.

But first, a brief description of the hapless young man. Soleil was at least of average height, if a bit above the normal margin for a boy his age. It was easy enough to call him scrawny, and his clothes sagged just a bit on his frame, the otherwise normal uniform set of, considering it was summer, a short sleeved, white button down and black pants, with a black shirt beneath the dress shirt, though he did have his schools black blazer tied around his waist. The short sleeves of the over shirt showed the white bandages wrapping up along his arms to just past his elbows, while his fingers remained bare. Around his neck sat a pair of white, rather stylish headphones, and the auxiliary wire connected to them was notably cut in two, left to hang about in the air due to carelessness in removing it… not that it was a priority at the time. Strapped to his back was a white messenger bag style school bag with several keychains attached to it of various characters from the ever popular HOMU series.

One way the unfortunate young man _could _be called fortunate were in his looks. Well formed but just a _tad _androgynous, Soleil was the type of young man for whom "pretty" was a better descriptor than "handsome" would ever be, not that he was even aware of this due to his self-image being more average. His burnt red-orange hair had a few strands of white along the nape and fringe, while the nape stood out as being longer than the rest, bulled back into a ponytail that stopped halfway down his back. Heavenly blue eyes stuck out against the marble shade of his skin, said eyes darting around as he scanned the area around him.

Now as for _why _he was belting his way over an entrance path like he was running for his life? Simple answer: He was.

In what had to be some kind of cosmic joke he was being chased by what he could only call _zombies. _Not quite the shambling dead type though. Chalk white with shadowed over faces, but expressions that could only be called dead, and with a surprising degree of intelligence. And without being a rotted corpse, actual mobility despite the shambling. And fitting to the location, many of them were the female students of the school.

Because as if the actual apocalypse would be _anything _like the movies.

"Just my damned luck! Something like just _has _to happen when I leave my weapons at home… wait, did I? Agh! I don't have time to check my bag right now… so might as well use it!" Soleil slammed his foot down to come to a stop, ducking and wheeling his fist around, slamming it headlong into the side of one of the shamblers, threads of blue power bursting from the contact zone and sending the zombie crashing to the ground with a suitably nasty sound of impact before continuing his run, "Sorry about that! Better to put you down then let you stay like that!"

Might wanna look behind you buddy.

"Shit!" Sadly for him, the moment Soleil turned around, he got arm barred by a particularly fast pursuer, his tumble to the ground not just knocking him flat on his back, but also sending him sprawling across the walkway before crashing into a tree and promptly also have one of the branches fall smack on top of his head. "Oww… just my rotten luck."

Soleil flinched a bit as the shambling zombies began turning towards him, standing up as he grabbed the branch off of his head in the hopes of gaining some kind of weapon that'd be better than his fists… though perhaps a tree branch wasn't a much better option all things taken into consideration.

"Tch, whatever!" Soleil gritted his teeth as he started moving off to the side, and when he heard heavy steps again, he ducked to avoid another attempted arm bar, the pursuing "zombie" wheeling around, the branch coming around and smacking into it's torso… only to snap in two from the hit, Soleil grimacing as he looked back while holding the splintered item, "Shoulda known that wouldn't have worked."

"Get down!"

Without even a thought to spare, Soleil did as the voice commanded, dropping down to the ground, gunshots following, the same number of thuds coming as his pursuers dropped like sacks, the bodies fading away in drifts of black mist, leaving Soleil staring at where they had been.

"Geez… who'd have thought there'd be somebody else here?" The same voice from earlier hit his ears as Soleil stood up. His eyes were then met with silver drifting into his view as somebody landed in front of him. The individual was a girl wearing the uniform he recognized as belonging to the school he'd found himself entering the grounds of, since it was a rather common one. As she turned, it became clear she was another foreigner like him. He'd definitely say she was cute, moreso actually, her pure white face was marked by a curious expression, her bright blue eyes widened just a bit as she looked at Soleil. Her twin-braided silver hair also had a chameleon shaped clip in the bangs, but there was something else to this girl that Soleil felt for some reason.

Something… nostalgic. Like he was looking at the face of an old friend after years of separation. And he had no idea why.

Also there was the posing question as to how this girl, who as Soleil stood up he could tell was a good margin shorter than him, had a pair of guns in _Japan. _Not to mention the bandolier of bullets wrapped around her waist and the holsters strapped to her thighs…

"_How did she get _those _into the country?! She can't be older than 16… then again my case isn't much better with what I _hope _is still in my bag." _Soleil thought, giving a sigh.

"A boy? What's a boy doing here at Senba? You lost or something?" The girl said so as she holstered the pistols, the movement causing her skirt to flutter a bit. Though Soleil moreso noticed the odd shape of the pistols. Particularly they were a pair of revolvers, blue and marked with silver, underneath the barrels were what looked like some kind of blade, along with small cylinders on the frame that crackled with small sparks of electricity every now and again.

"Uh… that's… complicated. But yeah, lost is probably the best word you could use right now. I have a bad sense of direction." Soleil put a hand behind his head as he spoke, feeling rather embarrassed at having to admit that. "But thanks for the save."

"I saw somebody in need of help, so that's what I did." The girl said, putting one hand on her hips, using the other to point at Soleil, "It's just what a Kaslana does!"

"_Kaslana? Why is that name familiar?" _Soleil tilted his head as the thought came around… he could've sworn he'd heard that name from somewhere before. "Behind you!"

As the girl started turning around from the call, Soleil bolted past her, swinging a leg up and slamming his foot into the "zombie's" head, knocking it to the ground before following up with another kick via his other leg. A bright blue glow suddenly surrounded his leg as it came down, and when it impacted with the "zombie", it also came with a burst of similarly colored "threads", but, what he cared about was the fact the "zombie" promptly faded away, Soleil snickering.

"And that's two for me now." Soleil chuckled as he moved his leg back, letting out a quick breath.

"Whoa, you've actually got some skills." Kaslana said, Soleil shrugging as he pocketed his hands.

"Well uh, admittedly I know a few martial arts, I'm better with a sword but… uh… right now it's just kinda hectic and, well… actually who the heck are you anyway?"

"Right. Well… let's get someplace safe first! Oh, right, names! We need to properly introduce ourselves, right?" The girl said, chuckling. "I'm Kiana Kaslana, a Valkyrie from Shicksal. Nice to meet you!"

"Kiana? Heh, pretty name. I'm Soleil Empyrean… and Schicksal huh… guess it was just a matter of time." Soleil's amused response was marred though. He felt a sudden flash in his mind, and a burning sensation over his right hand. What he saw… it was this same moment… then it moved on. The two fighting through the school, a girl with black hair… even more than that, an amusement park, a small girl with silver hair and eyes, carrying a yellow doll… and eventually, the three of them faced with a massive white creature…

"Hey! Heyyyy! Soleil-senpai! Snap out of it!"

_WHACK!_

Soleil blinked when he felt a sudden stinging sensation on his face, looking down to see Kiana staring up at him, her hand having lowered. It now settled in she'd just slapped him across the face. Had he zoned out all of a sudden?"

"What the heck was that? You just went quiet… and why did you start crying?" Kiana brought a hand up to Soleil's face, and he felt her wiping away something that was warm there.

"I… I don't know." Soleil muttered, wiping off his eyes, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone, his look going tense. The screen had changed, and rather than his normal screensaver, instead the screen was purely black, only displaying a number and a phrase.

_Honkai Outbreak Detected. Chance of Humanity's Survival: 0.000000001%_

"Damn… I didn't want to be right about this. If it's that bad then… no way, one of them can't be showing up can it?" Soleil had a hand on his chin as he muttered, then he yelped when Kiana casually grabbed his phone, the girl going wide eyed.

"No way! You know about Honkai?!" Kiana said, Soleil then looking away when her hand went down her shirt, Kiana producing her own phone, showing him that the screen was displaying the same message as his own. "If you've got a phone like this then… who _are _you? You're not with those Anti-Entropy guys are you?!"

"Gods no!" Soleil snapped, the sighing. "Look, Kiana, right? That's complicated… besides like you said, we should get someplace safe first." Soleil pointed off, noting that more zombies were beginning to head towards them, also swiping his phone back from Kiana.

"Right. Come on! We're not far from the library, we can hide there for a bit!"

"Take the lead then, little miss Valkyrie!"

* * *

"Seriously? Even the people in the freaking library too huh? Did the entire city go or what?!"

"Well hey, at least we're close to the source. Makes _my _job easy."

Soleil hummed as he finished helping Kiana shove a dresser in front of the door on the study room of the library they've hidden in, though it honestly felt like he had hardly did any of the work in the process. Even if it didn't look like it, he could tell Kiana was a lot strong than her slender frame suggested of her.

"_Be that as it may, it's kinda off putting for a guy that a girl as small as her outdid me! Agghhh! What's with that?!" _Soleil's face remained calm even as he was mentally screaming. He sat down at the table and took his bag off his back, opening it and rifling through the contents. "Come on… I know I keep gear shoved deep in here for situations like this…"

"Uhm…" Kiana tilted her head a bit as Soleil started tossing out a ton of things that would now be pretty much useless, mostly school supplies and books for various subjects. "Soleil… senpai?"

"AHA! I knew I left it in here!" Soleil proudly pulled out a black leather bandolier from the belt, though rather than a holster for say, a pistol, something else was looped onto the right hip side of it. "Hehehee, dad said to always be prepared!"

"What is it?" Kiana asked, leaning on the table as Soleil put the belt on, the motions to which he did so clearly well practiced and without much thought. And to answer the girl's question, Soleil flicked the holster opening, drawing a rectangular item from it. With a flick of his hand that spun it around his right palm, the item quickly folded out and extended, turning into a sword that was at least length enough for your typical hand-and-a-half, the edge of the blade formed from bright blue energy that went well with the white core of the weapon, and the blade left a trail as Soleil spun the weapon around and placed it on his shoulders. "Ehhh?! No way, that's Schicksal tech!"

"Again, kind of a long story." Soleil said, twirling the sword again before reverting it to its smaller form and holstering it again, taking one of the seats. "So, I believe you said you're a Valkyrie, right? I would ask what you're doing here but, well, the situation just outside says enough doesn't it? Plus, these." Soleil flashed his phone, which still had the projected image on it, Kiana nodding.

"I've actually been here for a while honestly." Kiana said, sitting down on the table, her skirt fluttering a bit. Soleil spotted white and blue stripes for a moment. "I guess you could say I was on a secret mission! Then uh… well _this _happened."

The two looked out of the window to the shuffling zombies outside, Soleil just sighing as he stood up, slinging his bag back over his shoulder and pulling fingerless black gloves onto his hands.

"Well, not like we have a lot of options then, do we?" Soleil said, kicking aside the book case in front of the door with one move. "We're just gonna have to fight our way through and find the Source right? Once the signal clears up then your Schicksal pals can do whatever it is they do, right?"

"Yeup… but really, who _are _you?" Kiana asked, drawing her guns as Soleil put a hand onto the door knob, the boy chuckling as he then used his other hand to draw out his sword again, turning around to face Kiana as he set the weapon over a shoulder.

"Just a traveling student who's fighting the Honkai like you Valkyries." Soleil remarked, snickering. "It's sorta the family business."

"Empyrean… no way, he couldn't be?" Kiana shook her head as she thought. That name was familiar. She knew she'd heard it from somewhere… but, now wasn't really the time to dwell on that was it? "Alright, let's go! Want me to lead? I _am _trained for this kind of thing."

"Haha, so am I. But I'm the one with the sword, so I'm on point." Soleil said, Kiana nodding without another word. "Three, two, one…"

Soleil shot out as he threw the door open and vaulted over some of the fallen tables, Kiana hot on his heels. The first zombie that lunged for them met the edge of Soleil's sword just as it came close, the blade cleaving right through in a smooth motion, Soleil following up by sliding across the floor as another leapt at him, that one getting riddled with bullets from Kiana as she shot by. Thankfully considering the time of day, the library wouldn't have been packed so while the two definitely couldn't go back the way they came, pushing forward at the least wasn't going to involve an absolute horde blocking their way.

Not that it was just _that _easy. The sprint through the large library involved having to duck through the shelves, and the zombies that _were _present had to be dealt with. And dealing with them primely let the two teenagers show off a bit. Soleil's swordplay was quick and precise, not a single movement wasted anything as the blade flashed through the air, Soleil supplementing it with acrobatics and kicks or punches with his free hand when he wasn't using it to grip the sword two handed. And Kiana may have been using guns herself but she clearly wasn't slouching in the physical department. Her guns may have been going off enough to rain bullets around, but they were supplementing by kicks that sent the victims flying back, or whipping them with the blades under the barrels.

The run through was quick as it could be, Soleil and Kiana crashing through the exit and out of the building, finding themselves now right on the foyer of the main school grounds, the main academy building looming over.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire has never been truer until now." Soleil murmured, planting his sword in the ground and tapping a finger on it, peering past the wall he and Kiana were pressed up against. The plaza had zombies shuffling all around it, all of them either students or staff. "Sucks there's no way to save these people."

"What'll you do huh?" Kiana remarked, reloading her pistols. "People without Honkai resistance of any kinda don't have a chance when an outbreak happens, sadly. Putting them down is all we can do for them now. Now let's see… where's the Source at?"

As Kiana pulled out her phone, Soleil did the same. The screen hadn't changed at all, but, now there was another reading below the probability of survival: Distance from Source.

"50 meters. We're that close already? That's not suspicious at all. At least it tells us the Source is in the school." Soleil grumbled, pocketing the phone and peering around again, Kiana poking her head out under his. "You're the Valkyrie, what do you think?"

"Well we don't really have a choice by to keep moving now do we? We just keep heading to the Source and find the target." Kiana said, giving a hum. "I'm not used to this quiet school. Hehe, though now I can be myself."

"Well then I'll follow you." Soleil readjusted the grip on his sword, snickering a bit. "The counts just gonna keep going up isn't it?"

* * *

Some time later, Soleil and Kiana had fought their way well into the central building of the academy. A trail of zombies was left behind them, and now things were quiet again in the hallway, letting the two get some breathing room. Soleil was rewrapping one of his arms since along the way he'd gotte a few hits, and Kiana also had a bandage wrapped around her left forearm.

"Good thing I keep these things in here huh?" Soleil mused, using his teeth to tear the bandage off, placing the rest of the wrapping back into his back, pulling out his phone. "We're getting close. Not much further now. I've got a bad feeling about what the Source is."

"Ah don't be paranoid Soleil-senpai! You've got me with you, it'll be fine!" Kiana said, Soleil humming as the girl started walking again.

"Why do you call me "senpai"? Just curious." Soleil murmured, Kiana giving a hum.

"Well I mean you are older than me, right? So that makes you my senpai." Kiana hummed herself, also checking her phone. "But we need to be careful now. This close to the source, the zombies are going to keep being drawn to it. But so long as we're quiet we should be able too…"

_BOOOM!_

The two teenagers flinched as the air flashed and the cracking boom split the air. Looking out, Soleil and Kiana saw that all of a sudden the sky had become covered in dark clouds, and lighting was cracking through the view, booming thunder following each strike.

"What the?! There wasn't any clouds around not that long ago!" Kiana said, putting a hand to her chin. "Effecting the weather? This is worse than it looks."

"Obviously." Soleil muttered, clicking his tongue. _"If it _is _this bad then we might be dealing with a possible Herrscher… and that's not good no matter how you frame it."_

"The noise is just going to rile up the zombies. Let's see…" Kiana pulled her phone up, then turning around towards the classroom they were in front of. "Here? Let's see!"

Soleil nodded as they went up to the sides of the door, Kiana nodding to him after a moment, Soleil throwing the door open, Kiana jumping in and scanning around, Soleil following after. The classroom _seemed _empty, aside from the scattered desks no likely thrown about from the chaos caused once the outbreak started… but then something moved.

Checking their phones again, it confirmed for the two what they were looking for _had _to be right in front of them… right?

"Found ya!" Kiana said, throwing aside some desks… only to stop dead. "Huh? A normal girl?"

She was seated against the wall, and despite the fact Kiana had literally charged in _and _that Kiana and Soleil were clearly armed, the girl huddled near the wall didn't even react besides looking towards the two of them. Her extremely long though tied up in parts hair was a bluish shade of black, while her eyes were a dark stormy grey. The black-grey uniform she had was the same design as Kiana's, though despite the chaos of the day, she looked utterly untouched at all.

"_Wait… I saw this girl in that weird flash I had." _Soleil thought… though he also realized he recognized her from elsewhere too. "Wait… Mei Raiden… you're the ME Co.'s heiress!"

"You know who she is?" Kiana asked, Soleil tilting his free hand, while the huddled girl only tightened up her grip on her legs. "Wait… I think I remember."

"Kind of. Wait… you didn't see the news reports as of late?" Soleil then glanced to Mei, clearing his throat. "Not a thing to talk about right now. But… she at least looks normal. You're not hurt are you?"

"…" Mei didn't say a thing, just staring as Soleil knelt down to look her in the eyes.

"Uh… gonna say something?" Kiana said.

"…." Again Mei was just quiet.

"Okay so, silent treatment it is. Look, we can't sit around here alright?" Soleil said, pointing a thumb out of the door, where the sounds of the zombies could be heard coming from the hall. "It's not safe right now and, well… no point sitting around here right?"

"Hmm… should we really take her with us? She doesn't even have a weapon." Kiana murmured, shaking her head. "Ahh no! We can't just leave someone behind! Come on, you'll just have to follow us."

"….." Silence. Again.

"Ugh… screw it. Come on!" Soleil grabbed Mei by the arm and lifted her up, and suddenly, he felt a shock at his hand, jumping back as a pulse went up his arm, and Mei did the same. "The hell…?"

"Soleil-senpai? What was that?" Kiana asked, looking between him and Mei, who was just staring at Soleil in confusion.

"N-Nothing." Soleil muttered, looking at his hand. _"Things only react like that when I come into contact with strong Honkai sources… is Mei the Source?" _he just shook his head. "There's no time to waste. Look, Kiana and I are trying to find something and then get out of here. Come with us if you want to get out of here too."

"I mean it's not too much of a choice." Kiana said, holding a hand out. "Cause saving people is what I do. So come on, let's go!"

"…" Once more, nothing but silence, Mei just looking between the other two, Soleil and Kiana both sighing.

"Let's just go!" Soleil said, tossing his sword as a zombie shuffled into the room, the blade going right into the shambler's head before he dashed forward and ripped it out, Kiana nodding and grabbing Mei, the other girl not even resisting as she started getting pulled along into the hallway.

The run off went for a while as Soleil and Kiana had to add more to the fight management with Mei being next to literally dragged along. And despite the fact Mei was being pulled along through a fight with a bunch of zombies that meant blood was going everywhere and the bodies got more than gorily damaged due to Soleil's sword or Kiana's powerful revolvers, she wasn't so much as flinching at what was going on around her.

The next floor up in the building, the trio moved to hunker down in another classroom, Kiana and Soleil shoving a number of desks in front of the doors. By now the thunder storm was also being accompanied by rain that was coming down hard enough to be heard slamming against the building.

"Ah geez, this just isn't ending is it?" Soleil muttered, sitting down in one desk and throwing his feet up on it. He pulled out his phone to read it, and the reading said "five meters", his eyes moving right to Mei, who was just standing around.

"Yeah, and if this keeps up, I'm gonna run out of ammo." Kiana muttered, rolling the chamber on one of her guns. "There's a supply area around here somewhere, but we're nowhere close to it. It's also hard to fight when we have someone with us who isn't fighting either… uh, not that that's a _bad _thing! This has got to be really sudden, yeah?"

"Why did you two save me?" Mei said, Kiana and Soleil near surprised she actually said something. One of Mei's hands tightened on her arm. "I should have just died back there… maybe I shouldn't exist in this world…"

"Haaa? What are you even saying? That's not exactly a nice thing to be saying about yourself." Kiana responded, putting her hands to her hips, Mei just giving a dejected sigh.

"Just leave me alone… he already knows my name and what happened." Mei looked over at Soleil, the boy just looking to the side a bit.

"Hmm… oh yeah, I _do _remember that!" Kiana said, a finger on her chin. "Raiden Mei. You're actually kinda famous here in Senba. You're the daughter of ME Co.'s founder, Raiden Ryoma. Hehe, I heard you rejected twelve boys in a day before. People call you "Thunder Empress." Why would someone like you be giving up now?"

"Stop laughing at me…" Mei muttered.

"She's not laughing at you." Soleil corrected, Mei raising a brow as he stood up and approached her. "If there's a problem you just need to act on it right? My family's got a saying: Rewrite your story into something of your own."

"Rewrite the story?" Mei murmured, Kiana popping up and nodding.

"That's good advice! Just change things when they go wrong right?" Kiana said, Mei's look growing into one of… perhaps twisted revelation.

"Change things… yes… I'm not wrong, it's this world's fault. I should just destroy this world!" The words were quiet, under Mei's breath, though Soleil was able to catch them. And he did not look pleased at hearing it… and then the lightning crashed again. And it was like the moment froze during the flash of pure white.

"The hell?!" Soleil yelped, looking around the new space of white.

"_And now we find ourselves here yet again." _A voice spoke… Soleil didn't know it, but, at the same time he felt like he _did _know it. He turned around and found himself facing a ball of sky-blue light. _"Always this moment, a moment where fates cross together at the end of the world."_

"Okay this has just gotten weird." Soleil said, the orb giving a laugh. "Okay seriously _what the hell?!"_

"_Those answers will come later. But for now, know that fate has already changed long before now, young Empyrean."_

With _that _all too cryptic saying being said, Soleil felt like he snapped out of a trance as the flash ended, finding himself back in the classroom with Kiana and Mei… and that weird feeling from Mei, and he could swear he then saw her eyes flash red for a moment.

"Kiana, something's wrong." Soleil said, Kiana stepping back herself.

"Yeah, I can see that!" Kiana said, Mei giving a chuckle as lightning crashed again. "What's wrong with this weather?! Is it the Honkai energy effecting things?"

And at the same time, Kiana and Soleil's phones rang at once. And the screens showed the same message on them: Honkai source detected. Zero meters. And that was when the signal cut off, the two phones going black.

"This is not a good sign." Soleil muttered, his hand gripping his sword that much tighter.

"If I can destroy this world… everything will be better… father, my friends… they can come back to me?" Mei was speaking like she was talking to someone else, and a moment later, she shot off, rushing out of the room as she threw the doors open.

"Hey, where are you going? Stop!" Kiana shot after, and Soleil was quick to follow, though as they leapt out into the hall, he was struck by something. A feeling of déjà vu… he felt like he had seen this situation before. No… more like he felt like something was repeating, something he'd already been through.

"Tch, no time to think on it!" Soleil just clicked his tongue and kept following. There wasn't time to think, only time to act. _"The hell has this day turned into?!"_

* * *

**A/N**

**I have been planning this for a freaking YEAR! Like, seriously. I got into Honkai Impact when it first went Global, and nutcase I am the lore and story side hooked my sorry but like a dumb fish. Hehehe… so many reiterations of things and editing of plans before finally getting to this part. Of course though this also draws from the first game (yes it exists and it's title is goddamn stupid) so here we are folks!... there's gonna be so frickin' much to explain following this.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Honkai Impact 3__rd__: Empyrean Reality_

**Chapter 2: Ruler of Thunder**

_Honkai Energy: A "natural antibody" of the world some would say. Some call this wild force "The Will of God." It is a cyclical natural disaster phenomenon, a periodic adjustment of the universe. For as long as the history of man has been recorded, so too has the Honkai been known to cause disasters against man. Honkai's manifestations are wholly unpredictable: Wars, diseases, mass extinction events, even the arrival of giant monsters. Known Honkai outbreak disasters include the Black Death during the 15__th__ century, and the extinction of the dinosaurs during the Cretaceous period._

_Honkai Source: As Honkai Energy is released through the air, it slowly aggregates together into small "Sources", which themselves eventually come together to form a singular, large Source. Eventually, once the Source has grown large enough, an explosion of Honkai Energy, and thus a following disaster, occur. These incidents are known as "Honkai Impacts" and are to be responded to with the utmost haste._

_-Excerpts from Shicksal Database: "Honkai"_

* * *

"I don't mean to sound like a pessimist here, but, I've got a _bad _feeling about what's going on here!" Soleil shouted over Kiana's gunfire as he drew his sword out of a zombie, the two stuck fighting through the horde as they chased after Mei, by now the chase having nearly brought them up to the roof of the school building.

"You're thinking the same thing too huh?" Kiana replied, batting aside another zombie.

"Herrscher… that's the only thing that _could _be happening right now!" Soleil said, ducking under a zombie's swipe, Kiana kicking the zombie away. _"That feeling again… ever since that ball of light showed up I've been feeling that déjà vu this entire time!" _Soleil thought for a moment, and without looking, thrust his sword out behind him, the blade coming right into the path of a charging zombie and going right through it's chest. _"I shouldn't have been able to see that coming, but I knew right where it was coming from like it was a memory… what the _hell _is with this?!"_

"We're almost caught up!" Kiana shouted, Soleil nodding and breaking away from the zombie he'd stabbed to rush off. "Geez, we're wasting too much time on this girl! And all we're dealing with is more zombies!"

"Yeah but if the worse case is true, then we don't have… much of a choice then do we?!" As Soleil slashed through another zombie, another boom of thunder rang through the air. The chase eventually brought the two up to the roof of the building, the two stopping as they finally caught up to Mei, who let out a laugh as the rain came down on her, and the oddly quiet, milling zombies remained still. "Mei!"

"Hahaha, everyone is around me now. Father, friends…" Mei said, again sounding like she was talking to somebody else entirely.

"Tch, she's surrounded by the zombies! How're we gonna get close?" Kiana aimed her guns and fired though she barely made a dent in the bunch surrounding Mei. It did get Mei's attention though, and her eyes had shifted into a glaring shade of dark red. "Get out of the way dammit!"

"Who are you… are you trying to steal this happiness away from me?!" Mei screamed, Soleil clicking his tongue.

"Quit talking nonsense dammit! Whatever you're feeling or seeing is false ya' hear!" Soleil snapped. "You're just being influenced, it's the Honkai telling you these things, stop listening to it!"

"Shut up shut up! Leave me alone! I don't need your mercy!" Mei screamed, the zombies around her letting out roars and turning their attention to Soleil and Kiana. "Leave… me… alone!"

"What's going on? This looks bad!" Kiana shouted, Mei turning and running off again. "Agh, get back here!"

As Kiana charged, the zombies lunged at her, her funs raining bullets out as Soleil also jumped in to cut down the ones assaulting them. The two broke through the crowd and shot past, Kiana catching up to Mei first and grabbing the other girl by the arm.

"Hah! Finally got you!" Kiana said, Mei letting out another yell as she reached out to something.

"Wait! Father, wait! I'll become the daughter you want! Please… just don't leave!" Mei screamed, Kiana's expression confused.

"What the hell is she seeing?" Kiana muttered, looking back at the remaining zombies as Soleil stepped back from fending them off. "And the zombies aren't attacking her either… damn, so she really is turning into one?!"

"Kiana get back!" Soleil grabbed Kiana in a moment of feeling a danger sense go off, pulling her away as lightning began arcing around Mei, before it then exploded outwards and blew the two back across the roof, Soleil using himself to take the brunt of it. As he and Kiana rose up, the mood changed. The rain stopped and only left the cracking thunder and Mei across from them. And something about her had changed. Mei's left arm had turned a shade of purple, crossed by glowing lines that pulsed with lightning, her eyes an outright glowing red, and coming from her left shoulder were constructs of energy that formed into a segmented wing. And furthermore, visible from a tear in her shirt, just on her left hip was a red mark, like an arrow shaped bolt of lightning.

"No way…" Kiana murmured, Soleil letting out a growl.

"She's a Herrscher." Soleil muttered.

"Hahahaha! Ahhh, I feel so much better now. So this is what this filthy world looks like hmm? That weak girl… she resisted for that long?" Mei flexed her left hand, looking over to Soleil and Kiana, and a huff came from her. "And two filthy humans as well. No… one of you is unusual. The Lynchpin. Haha, so you appeared here as well? You reek of _that one's _light."

"What is she talking about now?" Kiana said, Soleil clicking his tongue again as he readied his sword. "So you're a Herrscher huh? Heh, you're still pretty new though, so it means you're not as powerful as you could be!"

"True. But that doesn't mean I'm not so weak I can't squash a couple of insects." Mei snapped her fingers, Kiana and Soleil immediately moving to the side as lightning shot down at them, the strikes just _narrowly _missing them. Another bolt then shot right from Mei's hand for Soleil as he was coming out of his dodge. It was going to hit directly. But, his right hand shot up at it, and when the bolt impacted to his hand, flowing threads of sky blue energy began flying from his palm, the arc of lightning blowing apart, the threads of light drifting off of Soleil's hand as he panted, the wrappings that had been on his arm mostly burnt away, the singed ends of them fluttering in the wind. "Tch… that's going to be annoying."

"Are you okay?!" Kiana shouted, Soleil nodded as he put his sword back to his right hand, and as he lifted it back up while twisting his hand around, Kiana saw it clearly: On the back of Soleil's right hand was a blue mark, styled like a burning crown backed by three swords. "Is that a Stigmata?!"

"Later! We need to try and take her down. Best case, subdue her, worst case… well, let's burn that bridge when we get there." Soleil muttered, Kiana nodding and readying her guns.

"I'm with you!" Kiana replied, Mei letting out a scoff.

"Fine then. I believe you two can entertain me for a bit. In the end, you'll just be another one of these dead bodies. Once I'm done with you two, I can move on from here." Mei launched another blast of lightning at the two, Soleil and Kiana shooting past it. Kiana's bullets were blocked by sparks of electricity as soon as they came near Mei, but all those did was draw her attention as Soleil ran in. When his sword came down, the blade was blocked by the energy wing, Mei glaring at him as the blade and wing scraped against each other. "Move aside!"

Soleil vaulted back as Mei slashed at him with a wave of electricity pulsing from her hand, the sensation of the sparks singing his clothes and tingling his skin. And in the following moment, Mei shot forward with her other hand, a burst of lightning firing from it and slamming into Soleil, sending him careening back across the roof and rolling across the ground. Though as he struggled up, threads of blue were drifting off the impact area, though even then the blast had clearly gotten through.

"Tch… you'll take a bit longer to kill." Mei's wing shifted and blocked more bullets, the girl drifting back a bit when a kick from Kiana came sailing at her, Kiana quick to follow it up with several more accompanied by shots from her guns. "Stupid human-agh!"

As Mei moved to strike again, she was forced to block when _something _came right at her head. The deflected item clattered to the ground, revealing it to be a throwing knife much like Soleil's sword, the energy edge flickering away as it skittered to a stop.

"Don't go forgetting there's two of us!" Kiana said, firing again, and the shot from her gun left an actual mark in Mei's wing when she moved it to block, earning a snarl from her foe. "Nice one Soleil-senpai!"

"Always gotta have a sub weapon on you." Soleil said, flicking a few more of the throwing knives into his left hand, holding them between his fingers as their edges activated. The three knives were throwing out and deflected, though that just left an opening for Kiana to land a kick as she also wheeled back, Soleil shooting back to the front. Mei slashed in kind with her wing, though when they clashed this time, Soleil's blade dug into the gathered energy of the wing.

With Mei in place, Kiana aimed both her guns and fired just as Soleil was forced back again, the bullets sailing for the nick in the wing… and just as it pulled back, they impacted, Mei yelling as the upper segment of the "feather" shattered off.

"How dare… how could mere humans damage a Herrscher's wing?!" Mei growled, moving her head when another slash from Soleil damaged the wing more, Mei retreated as the damaged "feather" flickered out of form. "I need to gather more power…

"Like I'd let you do that!" Kiana shouted, grabbing Mei by her right arm. "Perks of being a Kaslana, my Honkai resistance is high enough I can even grab a Herrscher!"

"Ggh, let go!" Mei snapped, her attempt to swipe at Kiana with her left arm being stopped by Soleil grabbing her too, and as she looked at him, his other hand had a swirl of that blue energy at it. "You!"

"Let's see if we can't snap you out of this!" Soleil shouted, slamming his hand onto Mei's chest, eliciting a sharp scream from Mei as the blow landed. Lightning arced out in retaliation to the two, Soleil and Kiana gritting their teeth against it… and then Soleil felt a flash in his mind, and a voice…

"_Please… help me… Father! Help me… Don't leave me alone!" _Mei's voice, fearful and calling out.

"This… what the Honkai is amplifying in her." Soleil gritted his teeth again, and the arm he had slammed onto Mei was starting to bleed as the wrappings were burned away.

"_Father! Why did you abandon me… why does everyone treat me so badly now after what happened?! Why? Why?! WHY?! This world… I hate this world!"_

"Ggh… get out of my mind!" Mei screamed, another burst of lightning blowing Kiana and Soleil away, both rolling to a stop, Soleil clutching his bleeding arm as he attempted to prop himself up on it, his right hand gathering blood under it. "With more power… nobody can hurt me!"

"Stop it!" Kiana shouted. "You're just being controlled by the Honkai Energy! If you keep giving in to those negative feelings, you'll lose yourself again! Don't do it!"

"It sounds nice, right?" Soleil muttered, panting between the sharp pain coming from his arm. "What it tells you… it sounds nice and pretty… but whatever you're being told by the Herrscher is just lies!"

"Hmph. You really think you're talking to the weakling right now?" Mei muttered, Soleil growling, and then Mei started drifting upwards. "Don't try and play me, Lynchpin. Both of you… I'll never forgive you. Next time we meet, you won't be so lucky, that much I promise you!"

"Hey! Stop running!" Kiana shouted, aiming, but her finger froze on the trigger, leaving Mei to fly off, and the dark cloud above them followed her off further across the campus district. "Well at least we know where she'll be. Hmm… Mom said the worst thing about a Honkai Impact wasn't the Impact itself, but the thing born inside of it. She's really turned into a Herrscher."

"Someone who's sacrificed their heart to "God" to escape their suffering in exchange for power to change their fate. Obviously though, it's not that simple… you stop being "you" when you accept that offer. Talk about the worst case scenario." Soleil muttered, flinching when he adjusted his grip on his arm. "Damn, this hurts like a bitch. That lightning hits hard that's for sure… definitely lives up to her name."

"Ah, you're arm! You okay?" Kiana stepped over and gingerly helped Soleil move the arm up, the older boy giving a harsh hiss.

"Obviously not. But this area should start being safer. The zombies are going to follow Mei since she's the biggest source of power for them to follow… you know where the infirmary is?" Soleil asked, Kiana nodding.

"Yeah, follow me!"

* * *

In the infirmary of the building, and with precautionary blocks against the doors to remain on the safe side, Soleil was seated on one of the beds, peeling off the remains of the now blood stained wrappings on his arms, letting them fall into a bin at his feet. Kiana was shuffling through the medicine cabinet for anything that could be useful to them, though considering it was a school the supplies available weren't much.

"Hmm… Cold medicine, nope. Pain killers, definitely keeping these. Extra bandages are always good… also a good idea to put anything in glass bottles in something else so it doesn't smash." Kiana moved the items to keep that didn't need to be moved into other containers into Soleil's bag, and once the shelf had been thoroughly sifted through, she picked the bag up and stepped back over to Soleil. As he was wrapping his left arm up, Kiana's shooting-trained eyes noticed something: His arm was covered in incredibly faded scars, only made more prominent because of the stopped bleeding from his injuries leaving his skin chalk white. No doubt they were old, very old. "Scars?"

"Hm? You can see these old things?" Soleil asked, Kiana nodding, Soleil returning it with a chuckle as he kept up with his task. "Heh, I have plenty of scars all over. My dad wasn't exactly the kind of mentor who let me off easy just because I was a kid."

"Huh." Kiana took a moment to look Soleil over a bit more closely to see what he meant. His face showed a couple of those faded scars too, a nick in his left eyebrow telling of another scar, and another was over his lip. But maybe more of note was that mark on the back of his right hand. "That mark _is _a Stigmata, right?"

"Can't think of anything else it'd be." Soleil said, tightening the wrapping on his arm and tucking the end in and closing it, bringing his marked hand up after also placing his bag back on. "It's been there for as long as I can remember. The Empyrean family's Crown of Sun."

"Ahhh! I just remembered!" Kiana then stuck a finger in Soleil's face, "Empyrean! Your family used to be in the Schicksal until the 2nd Impact."

"So you know about that huh?" Soleil asked, Kiana humming as she lowered her arm.

"2005. The 2nd Honkai Impact occurred at the Babel Tower research facility in Siberia. Full details of the incident are classified, and I can't get in much more than the basic details beyond the following disaster everyone knows about. But one big thing about it is that the Empyrean family, which had been part of the Shicksal since it's founding, cut ties after it ended… which makes you Sigurd Empyrean's son, right?" Kiana said, Soleil nodding as he stood up.

"Yeup. Dad left Schicksal when I was 3 for reasons I still don't know. Spent my whole life moving from place to place so we could stay under their radar, been living on my own here in Nagazora for over a year now cause my old man went off to America for some reason he never bothered to tell me. Haven't heard a word from him since." Kiana wasn't sure why but something was weird about how utterly casual Soleil was as he said that kind of thing. He seemed totally fine with the fact his dad had upped and left him behind for some unknown reason.

"_Granted I know his dad is at least as good a fighter as Papa if the archives are anything to go by… but I still don't know why such a strong person would have left the Schicksal to begin with. Much less leave his son on his own in a completely different country." _Kiana put a finger to her chin as she thought, and Soleil snickered as he could see the gears in her head turning.

"Look I don't worry about it… mainly because he left me with this." Soleil reached under his shirt and produced something from under it, a black chain that connected to a bright blue colored pendant the same shape as the mark on his hand. "Empyrean family heirloom. I can't lose so long as I've got this thing with me."

"Weird… it looks like it's got some kind of energy to it." Kiana noted, seeing how the pendant had a small glow to it. "But you seriously think that huh, Soleil-senpai?"

"Hey, grow up with my luck and you take whatever good luck charm you can get." Soleil said, and as a crash of thunder from outside shook the building, rattling from the nearby shelf sounded… and a few items promptly fell, in perfect sequence based on size, on Soleil's head repeatedly, though he seemed more annoyed about it than anything. "Like _that_ for example."

"W-Wow… that's uh… wow." Was all Kiana could say to that as Soleil pat the spot where he'd been hit. "Well, we also don't have time to stand around, especially after that. Mei is somewhere she can gather power, and we just got lucky that first fight. We won't be able to brute force a win next time."

"Definitely not but… I think there's a way to save her." Soleil looked at his left hand and closed it, Kiana glancing at him.

"You heard it to?!" Kiana asked, Soleil looking at her with a surprised glance. "Yeah! Mei's voice! After you hit her with that attack I heard her."

"I did too." Soleil confirmed. "And if we heard the real Mei, then it means the Herrscher hasn't totally taken over as the dominant self… which means that if we can get through to her, somehow."

"Ugh… my phone still isn't working. Darn. If it was I could call Himeko in for backup. If she's not on another freaking date… nah, Captain Leon would keep her on track." Kiana murmured, Soleil electing to ignore the muttering of names he didn't at all know.

"_Let's think on other things. We both heard Mei's voice when I hit her with my powers… that means if I can get a clean hit in, theoretically I _should _be able to get through right? At the same time… I felt it too… how much she's hurt because of what happened, and the life Mei tried to live. The Herrscher personality is like a shield for those emotions. If we take too long then it'll fully take over. If we're lucky, then it means the Herrscher probably went dormant to regain the power she lost fighting us… but that won't take long to recover since we're right at the center of the Impact." _Soleil let out a long sigh. The situation seemed entirely hopeless. They were in the middle of the most dangerous thing imaginable, a foe that would be too powerful for them to beat in a head on fight in only a short matter of time, and between them and her, an army of zombies. By all means their chances were slim to none but… _"I don't feel worried at all… instead… I feel like I _know _we can save her… It's that sense of déjà vu again too… but… it feels different despite that."_

What he was feeling was definitely weird. As with all cases of déjà vu this was a situation he felt that for some reason, even if in a small way, something was different. Like he hadn't mentioned his good luck charm because he simply didn't have it, that Kiana hadn't said anything about backup… or even being a Valkyrie at all, much less knowing about his family in any detail. The sensation was offputting… why did it feel this way?

"So, you're starting to remember huh? Hahahaha! That's incredible! Even if vaguely you've retained memories of the old possibility!" As the world around him suddenly turned greyscale, Soleil snapped around when he heard the same androgynous voice of that light that had spoken to him before. Though this time rather than a ball of blue light, to his surprise, Soleil found himself faced with a Mei, but with hair and eyes of the same sky blue, nearly glowing shade as the light he'd seen. "I see you're confused by this form. I simply prefer to take on the forms of people who those I'm speaking with find more comfortable to talk to."

"Considering the situation and your different voice it's not helping." Soleil muttered, the being tilting her(?) head with a surprised raise of a brow.

"Really? Hm… I suppose it must be a bit uncanny."

"Very." Soleil said, his voice strained as he muttered it between his teeth. "So you actually gonna tell me what you are rather than be all cryptic and vanish on me?"

"Well, I have many names. I suppose if the force you are facing now is "God", then I would be "Lucifer." But, I'm also known as things like "The Will of Man", "Alaya", "The Lightbringer", some even choose to call me "The Devil." I however, prefer Sozo." The being said, spinning a finger around. The sequence of some of those names wasn't giving him a lot of confidence about what this thing wanted from him. "I believe the language of this land translates that as "Creation." Fitting is it not? Counter to Honkai, meaning "Collapse." And despite the other names, don't worry, I'm not some demon looking to make a deal that won't end badly for you. I'll have you know unlike Honkai, I quite like humanity."

"Common sense demands I keep a level of suspicion about all of this." Soleil muttered, Sozo smiling as she(?) leaned on a hand, pointing at Soleil's right hand.

"And who do you think is the one who gave your family the "blessing" that resulted in that Stigmata you bear?" Sozo's statement got Soleil to look at the mark in surprise. "Even a newly born Herrscher is capable of sensing powers born of my light. I'm sure The Third could tell."

"She did say I "reeked of that one's light" when we fought." Soleil muttered, looking from his mark to Sozo. "No arguing the results I guess, it's this power of mine that lets me fight the Honkai without worry after all. So what _do _you want Ms. "I actually like humanity" huh?"

"I simply wish to prove to my counterpart mankind isn't the parasite worthy of destruction it so believes you are. It's why I've picked people such as you as envoys of my own… admittedly there have been less than stellar results along the way, some who let their new power go to their heads and became no better than Herrschers… never quite let myself live those down." Sozo was, of the _many _things Soleil was _not _expecting some entity of higher power to ever do, _biting their thumb _in frustration… hell even just _admitting they had messed up _was making this so much weirder for the teenager to process. "But I suppose that's the risk I take for allowing my envoys to choose their own path. Some start out well but turn bad down the road. I admit though it can be rather vexing."

"… this has become so damn weird." Soleil muttered, sighing and shaking his head. "But… that's really it? No later exchange of anything, or cost for anything? I just have these powers, and all you want me to do is what I'm already doing?"

"About summarizes it." Sozo said, nodding. "Now, Lynchpin, I believe you have a Herrscher to save… and don't worry, for one such as you, the story is never set in stone. If it is within your power, then rewrite everything… you've done it once before."

"Huh?" Soleil was again left on a cryptic note as Sozo vanished with a wave, color returning to the world around him as he gave a low grumble. "It did it again…"

"Huh?" Kiana hummed.

"Nothing!" Soleil snapped, his teeth grinding against each other for a moment. "_Anyway, _aside from the first aid stuff now in my bag, how are you looking on ammo?"

"Hmm, while I have plenty, it obviously won't last me forever if we keep fighting like we do." Kiana said, pulling out one of her guns and rolling the chamber. "Thankfully with these Mjolnirs I can use Honkai Energy to attack with them, but it's not really my style. I can rely more on kicks a bit to preserve ammo, but the Kaslana gun-kata style still uses shots during moves… maaaan, if only I could call in a supply drop, this'd be so much easier!" Kiana said, then going to a window and throwing it open, looking off to where the thundercloud had moved. "It's a bit of a ways from the old school building we're in now, but it looks like our next destination is going to be at the offices."

"That's the building with the dome, right?" Soleil leaned out behind Kiana, the girl nodding as she pointed off to the building in sight just across the woods of the grounds. "Damn this campus is huge."

"Senba is a ladder school after all. That building is for the college district, it's their study hall. Also not to far away from a hall that ME Corp. built… huh. Think she went that way since it's her dad's company?" Kiana said, Soleil shrugging.

"Maybe. But if that's where we need to go, then let's move." Soleil said, wincing a bit as he turned, feeling some throbbing at his chest, where he'd been directly hit from before. _"I'm still feeling this one… but we don't have time to rest as long as Mei remains a Herrscher."_

"Hey, Soleil-senpai, real quick… why do you want to save Mei? Even if we have a way, the chance of saving her from becoming a Herrscher completely is slim. I think we should do it, but why do you?" Kiana asked, Soleil giving a small chuckle as his hand went to his pendant, the boy turning with a smile on his face.

"Because I don't believe there isn't a life worth saving. Even if we're hated by life itself, there's always a reason to continue on and live. Every life is worth living." Soleil remarked, Kiana's eyes going a bit wide. "So I'll do whatever I can to save people when I can. I'll always stretch out a hand whenever someone needs it."

"Cool…" Kiana murmured, just at a whisper, a bit of a red tinge showing on her face, then she broke out in chuckles. "Heheh, I like that answer! You're interesting, Soleil-senpai!"

"Do you seriously have to call me that?"

"Mhm! I think it's definitely fitting now too!" Kiana nodded while Soleil sighed, the girl then chuckling and head for the doors. "Let's not waste time then! We've got someone to save, right?"

"Heh… yeah, we do." Soleil stopped as thunder crashed again, his hand going to his pendant as his smile didn't falter. "Hated by life itself, all we can do is carry on. There is no stopping a world that desires our demise. So move on, push forward, keep fighting. Rewrite the story, create a world where things can be beautiful again. Fight on, and unweave fate to create your own design… that's the core of our family right Dad? Hehe… looks like today I'm getting to really act on those words. I've got someone to save… so I'll push forward"

* * *

**A/N**

**Having to work with a crummy translation + barely anything in terms of a lot of plot = working with material from the first game is a trial in freaking patience to not just make things go at a freaking cannonballs pace more than they already are, yeesh. At the least the translation of the version of that game available is… relatively understandable. Thank god Honkai Impact 3****rd**** itself has a much better English translation eh? And Japanese voices by default. Things'll definitely be a bit easier on me once I get to the point where I can reference all the side material. Speaking of, GEEZUS Sundenjager Kallen is good in game!**


	3. Chapter 3

Honkai Impact 3rd: Empyrean Reality

**Chapter 3: The Will that Changes Fate**

_House Empyrean: The fourth founding House of the Shicksal. Alongside House Kaslana, House Empyrean members have been chief combatants in the battle against Honkai Energy since the founding of the Schicksal organization. Members of the bloodline are noted for their incredible resilience to Honkai Energy, which borders on immunity as well as the ability to wield a mysterious power that runs counter to Honkai Energy. The source of his power is unknown, as any studies have produced no conclusive results. The current head of the Empyrean clan is Sigurd Empyrean, who broke the family off from the Schicksal after the 2__nd__ Impact in 2005. As of 2019, his current whereabouts, as well as those of his son Soleil Empyrean, remain unknown._

_-Excerpt from Shicksal Database, "House Empyrean."_

* * *

"So let's just establish this and get it out of the way: What we're about to do is _completely _idiotic and something I'm sure you're superiors are gonna rib you for something fierce."

"Yeup. But, there isn't anyone else around. We gotta do what needs to be done."

"Well can't argue that much." Soleil hummed as he cracked his knuckles, his and Kiana's eyes on the storm brewing over the building they were now approaching, a trail of dead zombies behind them. As they took a moment to stop, Soleil pulled out his phone, clicking his tongue when the screen still didn't change. "Still like this. And if I had to guess, the energy coming from our newfound Herrscher pal is making some strong interference."

"Yeah. I'd call for reinforcements if I could, but a signal isn't getting through at all. Let's hope it clears up once we're done here." Kiana said, checking her guns, replacing the cartridges that fit into their chambers over regular bullets. "Sooo… what _is _our plan for this anyway?"

"I thought _you _were handling the plan." Soleil said, Kiana staring at him blankly for a moment. "… you didn't have a plan in the first place, for any of this, at all. Didn't you?"

"Well it's not like you can suddenly expect a Herrscher to appear y'know?" Kiana said, Soleil putting a hand to his head. "It's not like you were prepared either Soleil-senpai! Didn't you nearly forget your weapon?"

"Well I didn't so it doesn't count." Soleil muttered, looking to the side.

"No it doesn't! You have no ground to mock me for not having a solid plan!"

"I believe I do!" Soleil snapped, he and Kiana silent for a moment before both started laughing. "I guess we're both idiots huh?"

"Hey, winging it's been working for us so far. Besides, you've got whatever power it is that lets you fight against Mei. With that we should have this in the bag!" Kiana said, Soleil looking at his marked right hand, a brief moment of the threads of energy moving across his arm occurring before he closed his fingers. "What _is _that power anyway? It's not Honkai Energy, that's for sure."

"I'm not really too sure on that myself." Soleil said, pocketing his right hand. "All I know is it's a family thing and has something to do with our unique Stigmata. I can't say I'm immune to Honkai Energy, but I know I'm resistant enough it nears that point. At least, that's what my dad told me."

"Having natural resistance is rare enough as is in girls alone, but for boys it's even rarer. But you _are _an Empyrean, so I suppose it's not surprising." Kiana shrugged as Soleil put a hand behind his head, the two looking off when the crack of thunder broke the air. "We shouldn't waste time."

"Yeah defi-GUGH!" As if out of some kind of spite, along with another crack of thunder, a piece of rubble came flying through the air and smacked Soleil clean on the side of the head, the boy hissing as he bent down and put a hand to where he'd been hit, Kiana's eyes wide as Soleil let out a string of curses… some in different languages for some reason. "Just my rotten luck!"

"That is… somewhat amazing." Kiana murmured, another crack of thunder drawing their eyes, and this time, now before them was Mei, her wing restored and crackling even brighter than before. "Well look who came to us! Thanks for not wasting our time."

"Hmph. It's my time that isn't being wasted. I merely came to squash two insects." Mei said, lifting her arm and loosing a blast of lightning at both the others. Soleil blocked the one aimed at him with a wave of his hand, Kiana stepping out of the way and shooting as she spun, Soleil drawing his sword as he chagred. Which got Mei to smirk. "It won't be so easy this time!"

Mei drifted back as Soleil stabbed at her, the blade missing by a mile as she shot out of it's range… though then the smugness on the Herrschers face suddenly vanished as she saw Soleil was smirking too. He pressed something on the hilt of the blade, and suddenly it's energy edge vanished. The entire frame of the sword then extended, and at the same time a new edge formed, Mei barely moving her head to the side in time to avoid it.

"A spear?!" Mei drifted to a stop as Soleil pulled the weapon back, twirling the spear before placing it into a grip behind his back.

"I can use a lot more than just a sword! Empyrean specialty after all. Why use one type of weapon when you can use a whole armory?" Soleil remarked, spinning the spear into a readied hold, blue energy ribbons starting to stream from the blade. "Though there's a lot more I can do than just fighting. How about I tell you a story? A story about a girl I met the other day…"

"You be quiet!" Mei loosed a fanning wave of blasts at Soleil, the boy twirling his spear as he blocked by spinning his spear, a gesture from his head getting Kiana to move forward, firing as she skirted around the edge, directing Mei's attention to her, Soleil dashing forward and thrusting the spear out, Mei's wing blocking the strike as she turned back to him.

"She didn't have things easy. Her mom died when she was little, so it was just her and her father for years… heh, that's a feeling I can relate too pretty closely… all she wanted was for her dad to spend time with her, but he was always busy with work."

"SHUT UP!" Mei yelled as she swiped her wing, Soleil jumping back rolling away from blasts of lightning, Mei blocking when Kiana shot at her, the white-haired girl chuckling.

"I know her too!" Kiana said, cartwheeling away, gripping both her guns, causing energy to course around them before she swung them down, a massive hammer made of pure energy crashing down, Mei stopping it with a barrier of lightning. Soleil yelped in surprise when he saw that happen. "Despite that, she pushed on anyway, hoping things could get better! But… then something happened a couple years ago. Something bad. Her dad was taken away, and then suddenly, everyone she thought liked her turned on her. It didn't make any sense to her at all."

"I said, SHUT UP!" Mei swiped her arm and broke the energy hammer, Kiana flying back from the force of it. When Mei went to blast Kiana, the bolt was stopped by a streak of blue crashing into it. Mei shot around, catching Soleil's weapon as it came down in sword form again, electricity flying from the contact point between the two. "Just die already you maggots!"

"Gonna have to try harder than that!" Soleil snapped, keeping the lock held as his free hand deflected a strike from Mei. "So she wondered and wondered, why did everyone turn on her? Why was the world suddenly so cruel?"

"DIE ALREADY!" Mei threw another blow at Soleil, lightning arcing across her arm… but, rather than a clean connection, even when it caused pain to arc up his arm, Soleil caught the first, the lightning clashing with the ribbons coursing from his palm. "Damn you!"

"Like hell I'm dying here." Soleil said, a grimace on his face. "I said I was going to save you Mei, so that's exactly what I'm going to do! So, you're going to listen to me and Kiana, and wake your ass up, got it?!"

Soleil forced Mei's arm to the side, gripping his sword with both hands, energy rippling across it, forcing it past Mei's grip and blowing the Herrscher away in a wave of sky blue energy, sending her reeling back and into the wall of the building. Soleil panted as he wavered a bit, his left arm numb and crackling with electrical sparks, his Sitgmata mark glowing as well, his eyes bearing a glint of their own to them now.

"Do you think that managed to do it?" Kiana asked, Soleil shaking his head.

"I don't think so. The air still feels heavy." Soleil wiped his mouth of a bit of blood on his chin, and he was proven right as the smoke cleared. While she definitely looked like she'd taken the damage, Mei hadn't lost the marks of being a Herrscher, and now just look supremely maddened. "Called it."

"Dan, what is it going to take to snap her out of it?" Kiana muttered, aiming her guns. But, surprisingly, when Mei moved forward, she lurched. Her wing started to flicker out, and her eyes flashed back and forth between their natural blue and the Herrscher's red.

"N-No! She can't be… she's trying to take control again?!" Mei then screamed as a pulse of energy shot from her body, Soleil catching Kiana as they flew back, planting his sword in the ground to bring them to a stop. "Dammit, dammit, dammit! Just stay quiet you useless girl! Don't you dare try and come out now!"

"She's actually fighting back!" Kiana said, putting a hand near her mouth. "Mei! You hear me right?! Keep fighting! If you can win back control then you can…"

"SHUT UP!" Mei roared and loosed a bolt of lightning at the two, Soleil and Kiana dodging it. Mei growled as she put a hand to her face, and with a flare of her wing, the Herrscher flew up, to the roof of the building… and as she did, zombies began to shuffle out from the trees and the building.

"She must be trying to get closer to the storm!" Soleil said, he and Kiana already running for it as rain began to pour down. "If I'm right, the storm above us is concentrated Honkai Energy formed because of her Herrscher Core!"

"I get it! So if she's closer to that storm, then she can get power faster." Kiana replied, shooting at and kicking away zombies as they rushed into the building. "But, that also has to mean the Herrscher's control is slipping!"

"Which means there's a chance to break through!" Soleil changed his weapon to a spear and threw it forward, the spear ramming into a pair of zombies as he rushed forward and grabbed it again, ripping it free and continuing as Kiana dashed up the stairs. "I just need to get close. I think if I hit her again the way I did before, I can snap her out of it this time!"

"Will do!"

As they kept up the run, which considering the size of the building meant that they weren't going that far up these stairs, Soleil took a small pause in between taking down the zombies. His eyes shifted to his pendant, under his shirt so that it wasn't flying around, but the shape clear underneath it, thinking back to when it was given to him…

* * *

_Three years ago…_

Soleil grumbled as he kicked a small Honkai Beast, a weak and common flyer type, off of the blade of the sword he held. In the arms of the fourteen-year-old, the otherwise relatively light one-handed sword felt heavy. A few light cuts on his arms and face still had blood dripping from them, and flecks of blue energy ribbons were drifting off of his body.

"You need to get more control of your powers Soleil. They're still running wild." A smooth, older voice made the boy turn around, facing his father, Sigurd Empyrean. The man was tall with sharp features, his short hair the same burnt red-orange as Soleil's and bearing the same white marks, and true to their bloodline, bright sky blue eyes. Maybe ironically, the man and son didn't share many features beyond those however. Soleil was clearly a child who'd taken after his mother in terms of appearance. "Our abilities may grant us great power against Honkai, but that doesn't mean to let it run wild."

"I know, I know!" Soleil muttered as he stabbed his sword into the ground, sitting down as he also kicked the fading body of the dead Honkai Beast. "I'm trying, alright dad? It's just… I dunno, it feels tricky."

"You'll master them in due time. Considering how your _first _forays started when you were ten, you've made astounding progress." The man's remarks made Soleil look to the side, the boy wiping away some of the blood on his face. Sigurd sighed and stepped over to Soleil, pulling out some bandages and getting to work on wrapping's the boys arms up. The father took a moment, looking at both the faded and still dark scars Soleil had along his arms. He knew there was more elsewhere. By all means, a boy Soleil's age shouldn't have had any reason to have these scars… but their lives demanded otherwise. "Soleil, you remember our family's motto, right?"

"Of course I do." Soleil said, clearing his throat. "Let's see, it was… Hated by life itself, all we can do is carry on. There is no stopping a world that desires our demise. So move on, push forward, keep fighting. Rewrite the story, create a world where things can be beautiful again. Fight on, and unweave fate to create your own design. Right?"

"Exactly. We live in a world where things deign to take every measure, they can to get rid of us humans." Sigurd put a hand to the boy's head after putting a bandage over the cut on his face, ruffling Soleil's hair. "And it's why people like you and me fight to defend them. Remember, there is not a life that isn't worth saving, whether natural or unnatural. There are times where, perhaps, you may eventually have to take the life of another human, not just a Honkai Beast or zombie. When that day comes, you will have to be ready for it. As much as we may _want _to save everyone, sometimes, they become too far gone to _be _saved."

"I know… don't run away from living." Soleil murmured, his father nodding again. Soleil then tilted his head when the man reached to the chain around his neck, pulling off the pendant and dropping it into Soleil's hand. The boy rolled his thumb over the blue crown marking of it. "Wait… isn't this?"

"It is. Something tells me that now, it'll be better off in your hands than mine." Sigurd said, closing Soleil's hand around the pendant. "Soleil, one day, it'll happen. You'll meet someone who needs to be saved, and you'll have the power to do it. With this, you'll have a tool that will let you win. Consider it a good luck charm. I know for a fact a boy like you needs it."

"I'm not _that _unlucky dad!"

"Hahaha, sure you are. Now, pick that sword up. We're not done with training."

"Alright."

* * *

Soleil shouldered the door to the roof open. He and Kiana came barreling out into the middle of a harsh rainstorm, thunder cracking around them as they slowly moved across the roof. The darkened field of view from the rain made the glows from their weapons all the more prominent.

"She has to be up here." Kiana said, cautiously aiming around, Soleil's hand at his pendant as he scanned the area himself. Not like there were many places Mei _could _be at the time anyway. And with a flash of lightning and crack of thunder, again the two were faced with Mei. The Herrscher seemed in control again, no wavering, and her wing was solid once more. "About time! You know how hard it was to fight through all those zombies?"

"Honestly I _should _be thankful. This weak girl's fear of getting close to people made it all too easy to take control. Mei said, her tone cold as electricity crackled around her. Then a grimace showed. "But _you, _the Lynchpin. Oh how that _detestable _light of yours is making this a mess! I should've become a lot stronger than I am now from absorbing the energy I have, but _that one _always seems to have ways to screw things up!"

"Good to know my new pal pisses you off." Soleil scoffed, shaking off his left hand. "My arm's still numb from earlier as it is. Honestly I'm not sure how much longer I can keep up fighting a Herrscher as I am now…. But, I at least know I can do it long enough to save you!"

"You're still going on about that huh Lynchpin?! Fine, let's see you prove it!" Mei gathered lightning at her hands and let it loose, though rather than separate, Soleil blocked the blast and, with energy coursing across his blade, deflecting it to the side, Kiana dashing down the center, spinning as she leapt through the air, her kick landing clean and sending Mei back. Soleil changed his weapon to a spear, and with a spin, he thrust it forward, the energy along it arcing forward and shooting out in a straight beam.

Mei draw an arm out with lightning arcing across it like a blade, swatting aside the beam, and then clashing the lightning sword with Soleil's spear as he threw it right at him, Kiana coming in and kicking the haft to drive it forward more, her foot sticking as the spear lurched up as Mei tried to redirect it, allowing Kiana to flip off and come down as she swung her guns, the energy hammer crashing down on Mei.

"Now!" Kiana shouted as the hammer impacted, Mei's wing blocking it. Mei looked away as she saw _why _this had gone the way it had, as Soleil was rushing forward with energy gathered at his right hand. He tried to ram the hand at Mei, who pushed up with her arm and dodged, slashing at Soleil with her lightning blade, nailing the boy dead on and sending him flying to the side, though something seemed to move from him as she did, then driving the sword up and shattering the energy hammer, but also her blade at the same time.

"Not enough!" Mei turned and kicked Kiana away as the girl fell, knocking her right into Soleil. "If you think getting a touch on me will be that easy then you-AGGHH!"

Mei suddenly reeled as blue ribbons flew from her wing, the Herrscher's eyes wide, glaring as she looked and saw Soleil chuckling as he and Kiana stood up, a move of the boy's hand calling his spear back to his grip by having blue ribbons fly out and grab it to reel it back to him.

"I think you missed it." Soleil said, rolling his left arm. "Getting hit by that lightning sword hurt like hell, _but,_at the same time I was able to brush that wing of yours!"

"As annoying as expected." Mei grumbled, flaring another lightning sword back into form. "But I still have more endurance than either of you."

"You sure about that?" Kiana said, flicking her arms, causing the chambers on her guns to spin for a moment, a keen coming from them as the light-components lit up to a brighter shade. "All this lightning based Honkai energy in the air has been helping charge my Mjolnirs here! I can already use their power again."

"We'll see how long all your bluster lasts!" Mei's swing of the lightning blade caused a wave of energy to fly out at the two, Sleil leaping over while Kiana wheeled around, a smirk on her face as her hand then tapped a white device on the side of her belt. A pulse shot out, and the space around them all suddenly became tinted in a dark violet tinge. Kiana moved forward normally, yet Soleil and Mei had slowed down to a near crawl.

"Only a few seconds! Charge up…" Kiana pulled back her guns and conjured the hammer again, swinging it up as she got within range for it to strike, Mei's turn to it however, all too slow in the slowed timespace. "And go!"

Just as the bubble pulled back in, Kiana threw the hammer down, cleanly striking Mei and sending the Herrscher crashing down into the floor.

"What was that?!" Soleil yelped as he landed, Kiana chuckling as she spun a gun.

"A new piece of kit for us Valkyries! A Time Fracture Device. It only lasts a few seconds, but it slows down time when it's used." Kiana said, spinning out of the way of another blast from Mei. "I'll tell you more later Soleil-senpai, we gotta keep fighting!"

"No shit!" Soleil spun his spear back into sword form, blocking when Mei swung at him, their blades locking together, Mei glaring into him as their blade's dragged against each other. "You definitely seem annoyed."

"I should've had you two finished long ago, yet I don't. Of course I would be." Mei growled, raking her sword up and breaking the lock. The exchange of blows that followed showed a disparity between the two, Mei's strikes the measured methods of Eastern swordplay while Soleil's told of Western styles with his own flair mixed on, or coursed aided when he swapped his blade to the spear to give him the edge in range… not that it wasn't simply matched by Mei trying to blast him. Kiana fired at Mei again, though the attempt to distract was blocked by her wing. "Still not enough!"

As Soleil changed his weapon back to a sword while rushing in, the edge of Mei's conjured weapon suddenly grew brighter, the energy blade becoming far more solidified. When the two blades collided, rather than clash, instead, the edge of Soleil's weapon was cut right into, the Herrscher's weapon following through and cutting it clean in two. Soleil stumbled forward from the sudden change in weight, being sent flying back when Mei spun and swatted him with her wing, the boy crashing into the wall of the roof entrance.

"Soleil-senpai!" Kiana rolled back as Mei then turned her attention to her, Soleil falling from the crater in the wall, electricity sparking across his body as he shakily dragged himself up, the edgeless shard of his weapon also sparking from it's broken zone. "Tch, this is getting annoying!"

"Oh so you and I think the same?!" Mei's slash was dodged, and Kiana managed to get a kick in, the girl then slamming one of her guns across Mei's head, aiming the other for the wing and plugging it with every shot she could fire. Mei roared as the wing was broken from the bullets, holes appearing in the construct. With a growl, Mei swung again and knocked Kiana away, though from the state of things, both girls looked exhausted now.

"Grgh… damn, I think getting thrown into the wall hurt more than that attack did." Soleil growled as he managed to stand up, the most pain he felt centered at his back at the time. He was sturdy sure, but it didn't mean he was immune to pain. And right now it wasn't like he could do much with a broken weapon, which he let drop onto the ground. "Come on… if this keeps up neither of us are going to beat her… I need something!"

And then he remembered. Reaching down his shirt, Soleil drew out the pendant, which to his surprise was glowing.

"_You should know what to do with that." _Soleil looked around when he heard Sozo's voice, but, there was no sign of the being around… only the view ahead of him and Kiana and Mei still fighting. Soleil grit his teeth and unlatched the pendant, holding it tightly in his hand.

"Yeah… you're my family's Divine Key, right? If so, then do something for me!" As Soleil gripped the pendant tighter, his surprise turned into a smirk when he saw thin blue ribbons starting to drift from it, intermingling with ones coming from his own palm, the chain waving around as a blue aura began covering the pendant, starting to edge across Soleil's arm. "Alright… let's go!"

Soleil swiped his arm out, a flash coming from the pendant as it then changed. Threads of energy swirled and burst around the air, another swipe from Soleil bringing the item forward and sending a wave of energy out, shredding the ground between Kiana and Mei, drawing their attention over to him. Now in Soleil's hand was a single-handed sword, the meter-long blade straight and pure white with a black edge, the guard shaped like two pairs of wings that wrapped around to form a basket cover, and the black hilt topped by a gleaming blue jewel. Blue lines lit up between the edge and core of the blade as Soleil swiped it up into his stance, level to his face with his bent arm under it.

"What the… you have a Divine Key?!" Mei shouted, Soleil chuckling as he stepped forward, a burst coming from behind him as he shot forward, a crater being left in the floor where he was. When he brought the blade down, while Mei blocked the strike, the force pushed down and made a new crater in the floor, the Herrscher growling as Soleil forced through the block and slashed again from a low stance, the two exchanging a few more clashes before their blades locked, though Soleil had the clear advantage in it this time. "Dammit! This is because that girl broke my wing!"

"Hehe, well then thanks to Kiana for doing that!" Soleil broke the lock himself, bringing his blade up with both hands on it. "Now listen up Mei, time to snap out of it!"

Mei's returned slash as Soleil slung the blade forward, in a return of her earlier action, was met with _her _blade being cleaved through. And in the following motion, Soleil released the blade with his left hand, gathering energy around it and slamming his palm into Mei's chest, the Herrscher yelling as blue threads flew from the contact point before she was blown away, flying back and hitting the ground, rolling to a stop, her wing sparking and beginning to fall apart.

"Did… did we do it?" Kiana panted, Soleil's arm falling as his breathing became heavy, the sword in his head clanging against the concrete as his arm went limp, though his hand refused to slack it's hold on the sword.

"Yes… you won." Mei muttered, her eyes flickering colors again as she shakily stood up, the wing completely collapsed and her left arm starting to return to normal as well. "I'll admit defeat this time. But, I _will _come back eventually… so, make sure neither of you die, because the only one who is allowed to kill you two is me!"

"That's a classic line if ever there was one." Soleil muttered, a dry smile on his face as he held his right arm with his left. "Heh, but, fine. We'll just beat you back down time and time again, 3rd Herrscher."

"Bet on it! So, will you wake Mei up now?" Kiana holstered her guns while she chuckled, the Herrscher clicking her tongue, and one could see her Sitgmata mark fading now as well.

"We'll be seeing each other again some time soon. So, yes… I'll give her control, for now." Mei's eyes then stopped flickering, going back to their normal shade of blue. The girl then collapsed forward, Soleil stepping over and catching her, Mei's eyes lidded as she looked around, clearly bewildered at what she was seeing, especially the sights of the beat to hell yet smiling Soleil and Kiana near her, with the blood from their wounds plus the fact they were absolutely drenched from the now retreating storm.

"Hehe, welcome back to the land of the living, Mei." Soleil said, Mei's eyes widening as she kept looking between the two.

"You two… no… I…" Mei stumbled on her words as Soleil helped her stand upright, the girl bringing a hand to her face. "What did I do? How I was acting… I…"

"Don't worry about it." Kiana said, bending down a bit. "You're alright now. Sure, we did kind of have to fight, and, well, look at us, but everything's a-okay now!"

"I think "fight" doesn't really describe it completely, Kiana." Soleil said, the white haired girl chuckling. "But, yeah. Don't worry about it. Saving others is what people like me and Kiana do."

"But it… I felt like what was there for me… it felt addicting." Mei murmured, lowering her arm. "I'm so very, very sorry, both of you. I must have put you through so much trouble just to do this. I was too weak to resist that voice in my head… but I just, I didn't know how else to deal with everything that…"

"Believe us, we know." Soleil said, Mei looking at him, Soleil then shifting so that they were sitting down, mainly because his legs felt like they were on the verge of giving out. "When we first fought the _other _you, we managed to see a bit."

"Yeah. We saw your memories, Mei." Kiana said, also sitting down. "So, we know what happened to you."

"Oh." Mei folded her arms together, looking down and hanging her head. "I… I did hate the world though. When people turned on me, people I though were my friends, it was all so confusing, so lonely. I didn't have anybody to turn to, so I just… shut everything out. And when you two appeared during all of this… I didn't want to risk anything, so I tried to run again. Honestly I… I'm not even sure I should still be _alive _after everything I've done."

"Don't go there." Soleil said, his tone dropping a bit, suddenly a lot more serious, putting a hand to Mei's shoulder, the girl looking at him in surprise when she saw the intense look he had. "You can't run away from living, got it?! I know life can be hard, I know it seems like it can be meaningless, that the world is out to get you, but there's so much more to it than that! Your life isn't worth throwing away because you've encountered pain and had the world turn against you. Keep living on, move forward and use that pain to grow stronger! Even if you're hated by life itself, write your own story, and keep moving forward! So please, don't give up on living."

A moment of silence followed, and Soleil felt like he suddenly slipped back a bit, like his mind had just forward before he could think much. He glanced around, realizing that now Kiana and Mei were staring at him pretty intensely themselves, and his face turned into a shade of red nearly matching his hair.

"Uh… did… I went off didn't I?" Soleil muttered, skittering back from Mei and scratching the back of his head as he awkwardly chuckled. "I uh… do that sometimes. Dad always said I was a bit of a hothead and I just-ah you know what now I'm just going on a tangent!"

"That was so cool!" Kiana shuffled over to Soleil and threw her arms around the boy's neck, only causing his face to burn even more. "You sounded so cool just now Soleil-senpai! You looked so intense, it was like the hero of an action manga!"

"Ahhhaaa! Kiana, stop, stop! Need I remind you're all wet, and right now I am feeling things pressing into me I should not!" Soleil yelped, struggling to get free but also remember Kiana was freaky strong despite her size. "Mei help me out please!"

"Well… I… I also think you were kind of cool." Mei said, also twiddling her fingers as her face tinged pink a bit, Soleil letting out a small whine as Kiana got a bit _too _tight with the hug.

"I think embarrassment is gonna kill me first." Soleil muttered, letting out a groan. "Also… can we go find a place to sleep? Honestly I feel like I can't so much as walk right now."

"I don't feel tired at all. Just sore." Kiana said, Soleil giving the girl a narrowed look.

"You're weird. And also please stop choking me." Soleil muttered, his face going a bit blue, Kiana relaxing her hold, the boy sucking in a breath. "Thank you!"

"Well, this building is also for the staff." Mei said, putting a hand to her head. "If I remember, I think it also has a few rooms for them to sleep in. I think they should be safe enough."

"Good! Honestly I could go for some sleep after all of this anyway." Kiana said, Soleil nodding.

"Also uhm… I have heard them, but I never really got your names." Mei said, tilting her head as she gave an embarrassed chuckle. Soleil and Kiana exchanged a look and then started laughing themselves.

"I'm Kiana Kaslana!"

"Soleil Empryean. Nice to meet you for real, Mei!"

"Mhm. And I'm Mei Raiden. And again, thank you, both of you." Mei said, then yelping when Kiana moved over and then hugged her too. "Wagh, K-Kiana?!"

"What? A hug means we're all friends now doesn't it?" Kiana said, chuckling as she stood up, Mei nodding to the girl.

"Well, that's all well and good." Soleil said, flopping onto his back, looking up at the darkening sky above them. "Things definitely aren't resolve here… but I'll take this moment of peace while we've got it."

"_You're making your way forward… good job." _That wasn't Sozo's voice. Soleil sat up when he heard it, turning and seeing an odd blue butterfly fluttering way. The voice that had spoken had been a girl's.

"What was that?" Soleil murmured, then remembering something. He reached into his pocket and drew his phone. The screen was still black, but now, the message on it was different.

_Chance of Humanity's Survival: 100%_

* * *

**A/N**

**Took my sorry butt long enough to get here dammit! But I now have a pretty dang clear idea of where I'm headed from this point leading up to things I can actually reference… for the most part. See ya lot next time! Hopefully this time not after a few months.**


	4. Chapter 4

_Honkai Impact: Empyrean Reality_

**Chapter 4: Escape Route**

It felt like his body was drifting down somewhere. Soleil felt weightless, but he could feel like he was being dragged down. When he opened his eyes, the space around him lacked many features at all, only swirls of sky blue that shifted and pulsed about around him. Eventually the drifting stopped, Soleil coming to lay down on some kind of surface. It felt like he was moving in water as he sat up, his movements smooth but slow, like he was moving through something.

"Where is this?" Surprisingly, Soleil found he was able to stand as well. It didn't look it, but his feet were surely on _something. _"Hello?! Hey! This isn't you is it Sozo?! What's going on here?!"

"…"

Soleil flinched when he heard something. A sound wasn't audible, but he knew he heard _something _in the back of his head. Like before, he saw a blue butterfly drift in front of his eyes, making him turn as it passed him… and amid all the swirls, he could swear he saw something, _someone, _sitting there… only a silhouette, small, but present, and looking right at him… and he felt he knew exactly who it was.

"Seele?"

* * *

Soleil shot up in a jolt, breathing heavily as his eyes rapidly adjusted to being awake. He wasn't in that place anymore. It was the room he'd chosen to sleep in to rest after the fight with the Herrscher. Considering this wasn't meant to be _lived in, _it was small and meant solely for sleeping when needed. Soleil would have much preferred his own apartment but that wasn't much of an option anyway. At the least he didn't really have anything there of vital importance he couldn't just replace anyway.

"Who… who's Seele?" Soleil put a hand to his head as it throbbed, groaning as he did. He felt a pricking at the back of his head again, flashes coming out… a ruined amusement park, a small girl with silver hair and eyes… and something even further, a shadow of a person, but… eyes, just like his, azure as the sky and looking at him with hope in them. "Bronya… Bronya and Seele. What the hell is up with this?"

"Mmmnnn… Soleil-senpaiii… nooo not there~."

"Wat."

Soleil looked down to his right and noticed a surprise lump in the bed next to him… in fact due to the fact this was a measly twin-size bed he was also finally registering there was very clearly someone sleeping next to him. And the clump of white hair poking out from the sheet told him exactly who the guilty party was.

"Sleeping in another room my ass." Soleil muttered, folding his arms. Considering how dead tired the now a trio had been after the previous fight, Soleil had honestly just been focused on crashing. He was still dressed to boot, the only item's he'd bothered to remove being his shoes and equipment belt. So really, he still didn't feel like he was in the mind to complain beyond the flat bemusement of the situation.

But he was going to anyway.

"Let's see… what's the loudest noise I can play from my phone?" Soleil got out of the bed and flicked through his phone, snickering as he found a good song. A _very loud_ song. Taking a second as Kiana continued mumbling about whatever dream she was having, Soleil moved the phone's speaker near the girl's ear, and pressed play.

The shrill sound of screaming guitars pierced the room, and the second it did, Kiana shot awake with a shout. The girl grabbed at the nearest pillow as she shot upright, and Soleil was already laughing on the floor while Kiana looked around with wide eyes of surprise.

"W-Wha? Why did… Soleil-senpai?!" Kiana shouted as she looked down and saw Soleil cackling, the boy managing to turn off his phone as he sat up, a toothy smirk on his face. "What was that for?! I was in the middle of a good dream!"

"And apparently a dirty one. You talk a bit in your sleep it seems." Soleil said, standing up and pocketing his phone, snickering again as Kiana's face turned red, the girl promptly hiding behind the pillow. "Ah so you _can _get embarrassed eh? Hehe, that's cute."

Soleil raised an arm as Kiana promptly chucked the pillow at him… hard enough it actually made his arm lurch back and left a sharp stinging sensation in his forearm.

"Damn just how strong _are _Kaslanas huh?!" Soleil hissed as he shook his arm, and Kiana gave a huff as she folded her arms.

"Surprise attacks like that aren't fair." Sharply spoken and the to point. Soleil could only chuckle in response while Kiana hopped out of the bed, stretching as she did. It was here Soleil noticed her hair must have come undone at some point because rather than her two extremely long braids, now it was a fluffy, somewhat curled curtain of white that fell all the way down past Kiana's rear

"Hm… I like the loose hair a bit better." A set of words that had definitely slipped out. Soleil blinked as he realized what he _had _said, Kiana's head shooting around so quickly he actually worried about whiplash. A sly smile came to the girl's face as she turned completely, Soleil already blushing as she started moving closer.

"Ohhh? Senpai, you like how I look with my hair down?" Kiana flicked the length of her hair as she chuckled, Soleil coughing into a hand.

"It was just a slip of the tongue. N-Now come on, we gotta remember the situation! We _do _still gotta get out of the city so please stop getting closer to me!"

"Hehehe, don't look so embarrassed Soleil-senpai! It's just a bit of friendly skinship!"

"What's "friendly" about trying to pull off my shirt?!"

"What? It's wrecked anyway!"

"KIANAAAAA!"

"Is something wrong?! I heard yelling!" Things froze when the door flew open. Mei, who looked worried but then suddenly shocked, had come right in as Kiana was over Soleil, who was struggling as she was openly trying to strip him… and in frank terms it looked exactly like the kind of thing one could mistake for something else. Mei's face immediately turned red and she slammed the door. "I'm sorry for interrupting!"

"It wasn't what you though!" Soleil snapped, getting out from under Kiana as the girl was still somewhat surprised. And as if on some kind of delay, the reverberating slam made a piece of the ceiling fall right onto Soleil's head. "Ugh… just my rotten luck!"

* * *

A short time after that morning incident, the now group of three was gathered in the sealed off common area of the building. Luckily they'd managed to find fresh uniforms to switch into in place of their wrecked ones. Kiana was checking her equipment over, Mei was cooking with whatever had been left in the cupboards of the nearby lounge kitchen… and Soleil was staring at his pendant like he was trying to bore holes into it, swirls of blue energy threads coming from his palm.

"C'mon… why the hell isn't it working?! C'mon… c'mon… AHHHHH!" Soleil yelled and threw the pendant onto the carpet as he stood up, tapping his foot as a crick appeared on his forehead out of frustration. "Why can't I make this damn thing work again?!"

"Can't make what work?" Kiana stepped over as Soleil picked the pendant up. "The pendant? What does that have to do with anything?"

"You know that sword I used?" Kiana nodded in response. "It came from this. But for some reason I can't call it out again. What the hell?! This is bull! I don't have a spare weapon dammit!"

"I mean you… no going unarmed in a horde is bad." Kiana put a hand to her chin, Soleil rapidly nodding as he put his pendant back on.

"You two look worried. Is there still a problem?" Mei got nods from both, and as she brought over the good she'd prepped, they all sat down around the small table of the lounge. "But shouldn't things have stopped after… all of that?"

"That doesn't just solve things." Soleil said, tapping a finger. "Just because you're back to normal doesn't mean anyone else is. Honestly I think while the Herrscher was out, she kept sending out Honkai waves. By now the entire city has probably become a filled to the brim nest of zombies. And if things get worse, Beasts will start showing up too."

"So ya' know, Beasts are what we call creatures who get transformed by Honkai Energy. They take on a lot of different forms, and they tend to be pretty powerful." Kiana said.

"Well I mean we should be fine. If you were deployed here on your own then that means you're at least an A Rank Valkyrie, right?" Soleil raised a brow when Kiana suddenly looked away, the girl now twiddling her fingers. "Kiana? You _are _an A Rank, right?"

"Wellllll… see, _not quite."_

"Wat."

"Now, I _am _a Valkyrie but…"

"'But'?!"

"I'm… not exactly ranked."

"I'M SORRY WHAT?!" Soleil shot up as his hands slammed onto the table, Kiana twirling a bit of her bangs, Soleil's eyes twitching. "So, Kiana, why is it then, you're here with a Pantheon Class weapon? Yet are somehow apparently not even ranked yet?!"

"It's not my fault! It's those stupid written tests that are the problem! For the record all of my combat grades are top class! But those tests are always why I haven't gotten ranked yet!"

"Well no shit you're unranked then!"

"Uhm… I'm sorry you two but uh… I'm kind of lost." Mei held up a hand as Soleil snapped again, the boy sitting down as he let out a breath. "I mean, I kind of get what you're all saying but, my mind is just racing with questions right now. What's Honkai? Valkyries? What _is _all of this?"

"Well that's… complex. But, the rundown is…"

Soleil took the initiative to explain what he could to Mei. Primarily about Honkai Energy itself and what it did. How it was a natural force in the world that influenced how it worked, that things like natural disasters were often caused by it, and how it's degenerative properties had always been a crisis for humanity, while monsters from legend were in truth Honkai Beasts people gave some kind of explanation for.

He talked about how most people had little to now resistance to Honkai Energy, but there were those who did, rare as they are. How humans had been fighting against the Honkai forces for ages, and in recent times efforts had increased as furthered technology allowed the ability to, while with risks, more people could be given the ability to fight against these forces.

And there was also the topic of Stigmata, even rarer than having the minimum resistance to be a Valkyrie. Those with natural Stigmata like Soleil and Kiana who's natural resistance was often much higher, but how rare such things are… and along with it, Herrschers, the "Agents" of the Honkai, who in current history, now including Mei herself, there had only been three so far, but how records excavated from a civilization long, _long _past, told of the possibility of up to twelve Herrschers.

When the explanation was done, Mei was quiet as they also finished eating. It was definitely a lot to take in, but she seemed calm even as Soleil and Kiana seemed a bit worried about how she'd react.

"Well… I at least get it now." Mei hummed and nodded a bit. "So we now just need to get out of the city, right? It shouldn't be that dangerous even with all the… zombies."

"Well… yeah pretty much." Soleil said, folding his arms. "Though first step is of course getting off of this campus… though I'm clearly weaponless now. And only Kiana has guns to use."

"A way out… and weapons too? Hmmm…" Mei's thoughtful expression got the attention of the other two. While Mei looked troubled for a moment, she nodded after giving a hum, looking between Soleil and Kiana, who looked locked in anticipation. "Well, on the edge of the campus there's an ME Corp facility that's also connected to the railway. I doubt the trains are working but, that would at least help us find a way out of the campus and hopefully to a safer part of the city."

"That's perfect! But, what about weapons for you two?" Kiana went from enthusiastic to slightly less so, and while Mei looked clearly bothered, she let out another breath to calm herself down.

"You see, while I don't like knowing this, ME Corp has been involved in weapon production for a while, ever since it was taken over from my father. It's just a hunch, but there's a chance the facility here may house something Soleil and I can use. It's a long shot, but, well we don't have a lot of other options do we?"

"No, no we do not." Soleil gave a dry snicker as he stood up, hands on the table. "I can at least manage hand to hand on the way there. Let's hope my luck actually rebounds on us here."

* * *

The way from the staff building and too the ME Corp facility, while definitely not free of zombies, was comparatively light compared to before. By now odds were without any kind of "signal" to follow, all of the zombies would just be wandering the city aimlessly and with no direction. The lot found that so long as they didn't get too close, they would be left, mostly, alone, as it seems they had also become somewhat passive.

_Somewhat _being the operative word. Because as Soleil attested, it was like the world hated him. Sometimes along the way they got surprised by a sudden bunch of zombies, he got suddenly knocked on the head by something and then hit something _else _that would make noise, the works.

But, aside from _that _the trio made it to their destination with little issue. In stark contrast to the more timely buildings of the campus, the ME Corp facility stood out as a cold, sharp contrast in it's geometries and stark appearance, the walls of the building dark, almost foreboding in their coldness.

"Eesh, talk about whiplash." Soleil put a hand behind his head as he scanned the place, clicking his tongue as he saw there wasn't any clear way around to the other side of the structure, and while the rail line _was _visible, it was on the _other _side of the building. "We're gonna have to go through all the way huh?"

"We do need to find some gear after all." Mei added, Soleil nodding even as he looked annoyed. "Though we would have to go deep in anyway. There's no chance any kind of developed equipment would be near the front."

"And odds are a lot of people got turned into zombies too." Kiana noted, sighs coming from them all. "Well, no way to go but forward!"

The inside of the facility was as cold feeling as the exterior, made only worse by the fact the only ones in there who were at all alive was the trio. A few zombies here and there wandered the halls and were either dealt with or ignored as they moved on. They'd managed to swipe a map from the reception desk, since the place was also mostly open to public visits to show off the developments ME Corp made for public benefit.

Of course under normal circumstances locations like the back halls in the development areas would be barred from the public but it wasn't like anyone was there to even attempt to stop the three teenagers as they wandered the building. Mei's expression was dour throughout their searching, clearly having some unpleasant memories being dredged up just from being in the building.

They had to go down a few levels to find what they were looking for, and thankfully the building's emergency power meant the elevator was working so the trip didn't have to involve taking the long way through the stairs. And it was on that level where it became quite clear just what was actually going on there.

As soon as the elevator opened to the lower level of the experimentation hall, Soleil and Kiana went wide eyed at what they saw as they exited. Aside from dozens of terminals, there were large tubes all around filled with bizarre pink fluids, and inside each and every one of them were _Honkai Beasts. _Well, at least it seemed that way at first, because to the worried looks of the two who knew just what the things were in clear detail, a few of the massive tubes were broken with the still drying, sticky fluid coating the floor.

"That's not good at all." Soleil knelt down and stuck his fingers into the fluid, rubbing it on his fingertips. "By the looks of it, these things are at least inert… maybe this fluid has something to do with it? It's got traces of Honkai Energy in it."

"Wait, are these those Beasts you told me about?" Mei asked, Kiana nodding as she pointed to one of the tubes.

"Yeah. These are just the basic types though. These bird looking ones are called Angels, while the four-legged things are Chariots. There's plenty of other types though. And they're all dangerous if you're not prepared." Kiana said, walking up to one of the terminals. "Wonder if these are on?"

"I think they're in lock down." Mei noted, noting how the screen was also a glaring red. "That… doesn't look good."

"What'll be terrible is if we run into those Beasts before we find weapons." Soleil said, picking up a small fragment of an odd white thing from the fluid, rolling it in his palm. "See this here? This is a piece of one of them. A Beast's body is entirely made up of silicon materials, and they're hard as concrete to boot. Even with my powers it'd be too dangerous for me to fight one without a weapon. Thankfully for me I've been learning how to fight the bastards since I was seven."

Accentuating his point, Soleil crushed the fragment in his palm with a small burst of energy threads coming from his hand as he did. Mei was also very clearly mulling over what all of this could have meant. Thoughts that perhaps her father was behind this, as clearly these Beasts were here for experimentation, and all the other implications that could come with it. But also a hope this was all _after _what had happened and ME Corp had been taken over by someone else.

"Well, we should really get looking and find that armory. If there's Beasts roaming around here too that just makes things even worse. Those things hides take a lot more for my guns to get through." Kiana sighed as she put a hand to her head.

"Yeah… but where to start?" Soleil hummed as he looked around. Then to his surprise, that blue butterfly appeared in his vision, drifting off and diverting down the path to the right.

"_This way! I'll help you."_

"Did you two see that?"

"See what?"

"Did something show up?!"

Soleil gained a surprised look as Mei and Kiana's respective replies only affirmed that what he'd seen apparently hadn't been totally visible… plus the voice. It had rung in his head, and the two girls obvious hadn't heard it. While it again brought up the question of just _what _that was, at the same time Soleil felt a calmness about it. Some part of him was telling him he could trust that butterfly and the voice. Like some kind of instinct.

"Come on, to the right!" Soleil chose to lead off, going at a trot. Mei and Kiana followed without much to say. As they went down the path, Soleil kept his eye on the butterfly as it rounded bends. It also made apparent to the lot just how _big _this floor was. Not only were there more sealed up Honkai Beasts, there were also far odder things stored like fragments of different objects too vague to actually make sense of.

Plus of course the zombified workers, but they were easy enough to deal with. The _real _problem for them was that they could hear heavier sounds here and there, things being crushed under the weight of _something _else on the floor in some of the areas they passed through. As they went, they also made sure to check the workers to see if any had a keycard since they couldn't be sure if the one they'd lifted to even get them here had the clearance level for anything higher than that.

Oh the joys of big secret mega corporations.

But, as Soleil found, the path the butterfly was leading them down was also relatively safe to boot. It definitely knew just where it was going. It became especially clear once it finally stopped in front of a door that as he had to guess, was way on the other end of this floor just by the distance they had gone in the process.

"_In here. You'll find what you need to fight your way out here." _With those words, the butterfly vanished.

"_Could it have been Sozo? No… the voice was different… it was the same one from before, that girl's voice. Seele…" _That name popped into Soleil's head again as he scanned the door, Kiana looking at the keypad while Mei was looking into the lab across from them, which was starkly empty this time around.

"Is this it?" Kiana asked, pulling out one of the keycards they'd swiped along the way. "I mean I guess it's worth a shot right?"

"I at least know the armory was on this floor, but I don't know the room. Soleil-kun, why did you take us this way?" Mei asked, Soleil looking to the side as he let out a small grumble.

"Uh… instinct? I guess I just had a gut feeling on where to go." Because like hell he was going to tell them he was following a glowing blue butterfly all the way here. A buzzing noise also went about as Kiana kept swiping key cards, but each one she did got rejected due to lacking the clearance to enter.

"Oh come on! I've done six already, why didn't a single one have the right clearance?!" Kiana muttered, then humming when she saw another option. "Oh, it has a password option… but we don't know what that password could be!"

"It might be a long shot but… here, let me try something." Mei gently brushed Kiana to the side. She took to the keypad, and after a moment, switched it's entry method over to, of all options, a hiragana keypad that projected upwards into a holographic display. With a few quick taps, Soleil and Kiana saw what she typed doubt: Her own name in hiragana.

To the two's surprise, the password input glowed green in confirmation, and the door slid open. Mei put a hand near her chest, and she couldn't hide the small but wistful smile that appeared on her face.

"Whoa." Kiana said, Soleil nodding.

"How'd you know that would work?" Soleil asked, Mei looking back at them with a chuckle.

"Well, it was just a hunch… but my father always talked about how he tried to keep me in mind even when I was working. He was stern but a little odd in that way. He had his computer locked in the same way." As touching as that sounded, one _did _have to question just why in the hell one would make the passwords in some supposedly secret lab section your daughter's own name. Granted it was in hiragana and Japan _was _known for its multiple written languages and such.

But, they had also _clearly _found what they were looking for behind the door. The lab was different than all of the others, many dark containers spread around the room. But much more obviously, hanging on the walls and spread on the tables were all _kinds _of weapons, enough Soleil actually looked a little giddy as he stepped into the room.

"Jackpot!" Soleil cracked his knuckles as he looked around, Mei and Kiana following him in, the door shutting behind them. "Oh ho ho, good to know all of this got left behind!"

"Guess they didn't have time to clear out anything before it hit. Kinda tragic, but, lucky for us." Mei commented, Kiana nodding as she moved between the rows. A good deal of the weapons were either incomplete with their parts strewn about, or similar models to each other.

It didn't really take that long for Soleil to start grabbing things to use. His first couple of finds were a simple European styled sword with a black body and edge of a glowing pink shade, and a spear of a similar material and with the tip much the same. Conveniently, the spear folded up and fit neatly into the pouch already on his currently belt, though the sword was in its own sheathe he looped to his left hip. What he found next in a black case though, was a bit more interesting.

The guns he found inside of the case had a frame identical to Kiana's Mjolnirs. But, rather than blue and silver, the guns were primarily black, accented in red and dark grey, with segments along the barrel's blade and other parts that glowed a dull shade of orange.

"Fancy." Soleil hummed, pulling one of the guns out and giving it a spin, finding the feel in his hand rather comfortable. "Hey Kiana, you know these ones?"

"EHHHH?!" And almost not surprisingly, Kiana's reaction was loud as she slid over. "What in the… those are Fafnir Flames! Why would this place have a Pantheon Series weapon stowed away in it?!"

"I do know that ME Corp was taken over by another group… what was it called? Anti-Entropy?" Mei remarked, still looking for something, though she did take the time to pick up a shotgun she'd found.

"Well, that explains that one!" Soleil looked downright disappointed when Kiana looked at him with a raised brow while he stuck the Fafnir Flames into the holsters in the case and threw that belt over his other one. "Come on, you should know this Kiana. Anti-Entropy used to be the North American branch for Schicksal. They splintered off decades ago. Seeing that, of course they'd have tech like Schicksal… hell I'd argue they're better at using it."

"I think that's kind of mean to say." Kiana pouted, Soleil chuckling as he put a hand to her head, the girl's face going a bit red.

"Not like I meant anything buy it towards you." They also stopped when loud crashes came froum outside, Soleil's look going somber. "Guess a Beast is close. Let's find anything else we can use then get out of here!"

"Right!"

"Got it!"

As they all shot off to do so, Mei's own searching stopped when she found another case. This one was marked as well, the characters on it reading "Raikiri." Mei set the case onto one of the tables and opened it, gasping a bit. Inside of it was some kind of katana, like a lot of the weapons in here rather mechanical in look. It's guard wasn't typical, more like another component of its mechanisms, the edge of the straight blade some other kind of material that glowed a faint shade of cyan. When Mei picked it up, it surprisingly sparked to life, the edge gaining a dim glow of it's own.

"This… is father's work." A melancholic smile came to Mei's face. She took the blade and placed it into the sheathe in the upper portion of the case, hooking it to her waist onto a belt she'd pilfered and also stuck one of the pistols around the room into. Always good to have something extra with you for emergencies after all.

Kiana seemed intent to stick with what she had, though some pestering from Soleil convinced her to grab another of the swords in the room. Once they had gotten on other bits of gear as well, the three considered themselves ready. One almost would've considered it mildly amusing since the lot now had bits of combat gear over their school uniforms, but considering the situation, and the fact they were all quite literally carrying everything they had in their pockets and Soleil's somehow still very much in one piece school bag, not like they had many other choices.

Exiting the armory, and beforehand making sure the halls were clear, they set off again. The trot they set off at seemed smooth, not much different than before, and they could do so with more confidence being better armored and actually protected to some degree. But, Soleil couldn't help but expect things to eventually go wrong at _some point _because it just couldn't be that easy now could it?

And, well, yet again, Murphy's Law reared its ugly head in front of them.

The trio braked to a stop when Soleil called out, and what it was came crashing right down the hall and into the wall. One of the escaped Chariot Honkai Beasts, and a somewhat large one at that. If it wasn't for the size of the corridors the thing probably wouldn't have fit, its large forward limbs leaving dents in the wall and floor as they were set down, while it's much smaller hind area still made heavy sounds. The beast turned towards the group, and not helping matters, a couple of the Angel types, the flyers, hovered up from behind the Chariot.

And as if _only _to add another nail into this board, another Chariot, if smaller, came waddling in from the previous intersection behind the lot with it's own pair of Angels tagging along. Soleil couldn't help but bitterly chuckle about it as he, Kiana, and Mei drew their weapons, Soleil drawing his sword in his right hand and one of the Fafnir Flames with his left.

"Just my rotten luck."

* * *

**A/N**

**And because I'm a crummy little sadist, concluding this chapter here! I mean not that I don't have plenty to do next time anyway from there on cause whoo boy am I gonna be having fun with all of this. Hehe. See ya next time!**


	5. Chapter 5

_Honkai Impact 3__rd__: Empyrean Reality_

**Chapter 5: Back Into the Fire**

Around the same time that Soleil, Kiana, and Mei were exploring the ME Corp facility in Japan, elsewhere in the world, somewhere in the forests deep within Yellowstone National Park in America, another event was taking place.

Sigurd Empyrean made his way through the woods of the grand park with the cover of night keeping his presence away. And since it wasn't like people ever came this deep into the woods anyway, not like anybody _would _find the lone, and quite heavily armed, man seeming to just be aimlessly wandering the restrictive depths of the park.

But, this region of the park was restricted form public access for a very good reason. But of course, a certain somebody couldn't just leave the man's walk in silence, now could it?

"And just what is it you're looking for here hmm Sigurd?" Sozo, appearing to Sigurd in the guise of his very son, but of course with the difference of the beings white-blue hair and eyes. Sigurd, for his credit, was not at all impressed seeing the eccentric being come to him looking like _that._

"I would appreciate it if when you decided to show up, you didn't do it appearing as Soleil." Cold words from the man, but Sozo only seemed amused as the man continued walking, simply reappearing along the path either on the ground or in trees whenever Sigurd passed them. "What is it you even want right now?"

"Nothing much. I do already know where it is you're headed. The Yellowstone ruins, yes? Now just what is it that could be waiting for you there? I thought Anti-Entropy had picked the place clean in the decades since they found it."

"True as that is, they didn't search it with an Empyrean with them, now have they?" Sigurd stopped his walking as he came across a sudden break in the trees. Now normally, if one were to view this location from above it would simply look like another dense patch of the forest, but, that was in truth simply a smokescreen to hide what he was looking at from the greater public.

Because the break led down into a site long since left alone once the excavation had finished, ruins of a city somehow modern in appearance. While little of it was left, and even in this crater, some of the remains still stretched above even some of the taller trees in the location. This was just one of many other ruins like it strewn across the globe, the ruins of the previous civilization.

And this term didn't simply mean prior historical civilizations such as Rome or Mesopotamia, no, this meant something entirely different. A civilization that at its height had reached a point beyond even the current state of modernity, and that if modern scholars were to learn about, would completely shatter many preconceived notions about mankind's pre-history. Because what these ruins showed the truth of was something far, far different.

"Ah yes this city. Haha, I find it almost incredible how despite the vast differences, once humanity rose again how quickly you all went back on your former path. Then again the survivors of the old civilization were good teachers, they did well to pass on what knowledge they had." Sozo leaned on a hand while swinging their legs in a tree, Sigurd giving a huff as he started walking down the path. "So, just what is it you hope to find here eh Sigurd?"

"I'm not sure. Perhaps something connected to my bloodline only these ruins could answer. Maybe about the things I've seen, how our history seems to have diverted to a new course when otherwise it wouldn't have… and if there's a way to find _her." _Sigurd put particular emphasis on the word, Sozo giving a hum. "After all, I haven't been working with Anti-Entropy these past few years for nothing… I can't trust Cocolia, just like how I can't trust Otto. Hah! If only Welt was still the one leading, Lizelle and Frederika wouldn't have to keep my involvement as hidden as it is."

"Well then I'll leave you to it Sigurd. So long for now!"

"Hold it Sozo." Sigurd turned back as Sozo was about to hop away, and as he did, the being shifted appearance from Soleil to somebody else, a young woman who's face made Sigurd tightly ball his fist up. "How is Soleil right now? Is he fine?"

"Oh he's perfectly fine. Had a bit of a rough fight against a Herrscher but well, that lucky charm you gave him pulled through. They'll be fine. He _does _have a little helper on his side too." Sozo vanished from sight with that, Sigurd giving a huff.

"As flighty as always of course." Sigurd turned back to the ruins before him, reaching to his back and pulling out one of the weapons, unfolding it into a spear as he strode down the path, a faint smile coming to the man's face as Honkai beasts began to rise from the dirt, Sigurd's spear shooting through the first one that lunged at him with an almost casual strike from the man. "And even less surprising. Hehe… always so unfortunate, we Empyreans."

* * *

"Well at least we can say there's not a ton." Kiana was bitterly trying to lighten the situation as the Honkai Beasts started closing in on them in the hall. The fact the Chariots were as big as they are certainly made things more claustrophobic for the lot.

"Doesn't help Kiana. But… this won't be _too _hard." Soleil said, whipping out one of his spiffy new guns and firing it at the nearest Angel, the burning shot slamming right through the thing's wing and sending it spiraling back. "Heh, nice!"

This prompted the other Angels to shoot forward. Kiana kicked the one that came to her and shot it with bother of her guns, Mei quickly slashing at both that came her way. While the attacks didn't finish them, the fact Soleil served as the follow up, drawing the sword he'd taken along with the gun, and the moment he _did _actively use it, the violet lights changed to light blue along the sword, his own gun shots and sword slashes finished the Angels off quickly.

But they were just the small fry. Of course they'd be easy to deal with even compared to some.

"Ugh, I felt how hard those things are." Mei muttered as she rubbed a forearm. While her blade had cut through without a lot of trouble, she'd felt how sturdy those silicon bodies were during the cuts. She'd definitely have to put more into it if she wanted to make a clean cut through one.

Kiana dashed past Mei as a Chariot came for her, swinging her Mjolnirs as the guns lit up, slamming the beast with the energy hammer and slamming it into the wall, smoothly following up into perforating the beast with rapid shots. Seeing an opening as the beast tried to lumber out of the wall, Mei swapped to the shotgun she'd grabbed and with a quick dash, the shot it fired slammed the Beast and blew its shell wide open.

Not to be outdone of course, Soleil dodged when the Chariot before him tried to slam him down with it's arm, leaping upwards as he fired at the Chariot to pelt it's shell and create a weak spot, which he promptly rammed the sword in his hand into. He followed that move by using the sword as a point to jump off of, holstering his gun and then drawing out his spear, swirls of power forming around the spear as Soleil came down, ramming the spear right through the top of the Chariot.

Both beasts were down for the count with what had happened to them. Soleil pulled out both his stuck in weapons as his Chariot collapsed, while Kiana tapped at the one she and Mei had finished off to make sure it was actually down for the count. A few moments after the beasts were confirmed dead, their bodies also began to crumble away, a small touch from Mei causing the section of the Chariot to crumble like brittle Styrofoam.

"No time to slow down right now." Soleil said, already looking off elsewhere. "I doubt those ones were all there is to it, and odds are there's gonna be a few more between us and the elevator."

"Well, if it goes like this did, then I don't think we'll have problems." Mei said, Kiana chuckling as she spun a gun.

"And then from there, it's a straight shot to the other side so we can get on the railway!" Kiana turned as the other two nodded. The path back should be simple, all they had to do was be smart and cautious… that wasn't hard at all, right?

* * *

"So… why am I going to be living on my own for a while?"

"There's some… things I need take care of I can't bring you along for. This city is pretty safe and well away from any Honkai zones."

"Dad I can handle myself just fine."

The time currently was a year before the current outbreak. Nagazora at this time was far livelier. People were all over the place along the wide sidewalks of the busy streets. The buzz of a normal, every day life unbothered by any kind of threat or disaster. A perfectly peaceful and bustling city at the height of modernity. And at these sterling streets, Soleil and Sigurd were seated at one of the many cafes around town. They'd been in Nagazora for some time now, so now the sudden news he'd be living on his own from this point on was, well it was _news _that was for sure.

"But what is this even about? You always just took my anywhere you went without issue, so what's different about this?" Soleil turned the straw in his drink, Sigurd giving a hum as he lit up a smoke and took a drag. "Tch, c'mon dad don't go smoking here. That crap brand you like also reeks."

"Hey it's not that bad of a brand." Sigurd chuckled, Soleil narrowing his eyes, the father taking another drag and blowing the smoke upwards in steady stream. "Well to be blunt, what's different about this case is that I'm going to be looking into things that require some more… let's say finesse. Besides, I also don't want you constantly moving around. Like I said Nagazora is a pretty safe place, so just stay here for a bit and be a normal high school kid for a while alright?"

"That's a hard thing to do considering my luck and all that." Soleil said, leaning on a hand. "And what kind of "things" are you talking about here?"

"Can't say!" Sigurd gave a goofy expression as he put his arms out, Soleil not looking amused in the slightest. "Let's just say it's some business I'm doing for old friends, people I have a deal with that they decided to finally act on… heh, can't believe it took her thirteen years to decide now would be a good time to get in touch."

"Thirteen years? What now?" Soleil tilted his head, and Sigurd waved his hand as he then stamped out the smoke. "You're being way to obtuse right now dad."

"Sorry sorry. It was just something that happened when you were small. Let's just say this "dead" is meant to be beneficial… and has to do with things about our family." Sigurd just got another tilt of the head from his son, the man chuckling again. "But don't worry too much, besides, you've got the family lucky charm with you. I'm sure it'll kick in just when you need it."

"You've been saying that ever since you gave it to me."

"Well, just give it a bit more time."

"You've been saying that too."

* * *

"Ahh and here I thought we'd have it easy! But those beasts keep showing up! They just don't stop!"

Kiana was of course whining as the group had ducked into another one of the labs. Their goal of making it back to the main elevator fell flat on it's face because more of the sealed up Beasts had somehow escaped their containment and were all stalking the halls.

"Welcome to my daily life." Soleil snidely said, Kiana shrinking away from a bit. "We should try and conserve strength anyway. It's been about an hour and a half since we got down here. If we can just find a map in one of these terminals, then maybe we can track down a different exit, hopefully one on the other side of the building and near the station."

"That's a good idea." Mei said, looping her shotgun over her shoulder. "We're lucky there's till power, Kiana-chan, let's start looking at some of them. I doubt any of them lost their data, so one is bound to have a map… though how we'll get past the passwords is another thing."

"That'll be easy to cover." Soleil pulled out his phone, and Mei tilted her head as he then pulled some kind of wire out of a port he opened on it, the open end of the wire then shifting as he plugged it into a port on the side of the nearest terminal, a few moments of data passing on the phone screen passing before the computer then unlocked. "The phones me and Kiana have are pretty standard Schicksal tech. They may look like your typical smartphone, but they have plenty of other functions, hacking being one of them."

"They also have a Honkai radar and emergency communication functions." Kiana stated, whipping her own phone out from its storage space in her cleavage. "And thankfully their batteries last pretty much forever, so no need to charge them either!"

"Wow, that's crazy useful! Uhh… my phone lost power ages ago, and I don't even have my charger on me." Mei sagged down as a cloud of despair hung over her, Soleil and Kiana giving awkward chuckles.

"Well hey Mei-senpai, we can look together… which on is on… ah, over here!"

As the two girls went off to another terminal, Soleil turned his attention to the one before him as he started flicking through it's files. Unlike the first ones they'd come across this one didn't have any damage that led to corruption, so he could cleanly look through the records in it. As he expected, Soleil found plenty of research data on Honkai Energy, Beasts, and the effects it had on the environment and those in it. Most of it was things Soleil himself knew, the corrupting effects and rapid mutations Honkai Energy caused in living organisms.

For posterity he set his phone to start copying the data he was accessing since it could probably be useful later, and he was skimming most of it since he could take time later to look over it in detail once they were in a safer spot and resting. But, as he kept skimming and flicking things way to copy them over, he stopped when he saw a particular file with an odd name, Soleil opening it, and his eyes started going wide as he read it over.

"Soleil-kun! Kiana-chan and I found a map, did you find anything?" Mei came trotting back over then, and Soleil immediately shut the file he was looking at closed, Mei looking over his shoulder as he then unplugged his phone, the wire snaking back into the device with a simple click. "What did you find?"

"Just some research files I'll go over in detail later, nothing too big. So, what was this about a map?" Soleil pocketed his phone in a clear hurry, though Mei paid the motion no mind. She simply thought that like her he was about ready to get out of here.

"Yes, the facility map we found has everything about this floor. There's a few other elevators we can take to get back to the upper floor, and one of them will take us right to the station side entrance." Mei said, Soleil nodding. "It's a bit far from where we are, but we shouldn't have any problems making it there right?"

"With the pace we've got going there won't be any trouble at all!" Kiana said, zooming over and throwing an arm up. "And once we're at the station we just follow the rail line until we're at a part of the city where the Honkai Energy isn't so condensed, and then we can get a signal out! Lucky for us the Shicksal Far East Branch has plenty of squads to operate around here!"

"Are you sure that's the best idea? Going by what you said Kiana technically speaking you shouldn't _be _here right?" Soleil asked, Kiana flipping a hand about.

"Ah it won't be bad! You could say Papa took me on a special training trip. I haven't been gone _that _long." Kiana said, a proud air around the white-haired girl. Though Soleil and Mei were both giving her flat looks. "Eh?! Come on don't look at me like that! I'm honest! I also know just who'll show up, don't worry they're both great… well Auntie Himeko might try to throttle me…"

"Well, whatever. Let's just get moving." Soleil sighed as he scratched the back of his head, and he gave a bit of a grumble. _"I've got a bad feeling in the air all of a sudden… I doubt it'll stop us, but getting out of here won't be that simple will it? Just my rotten luck…"_

* * *

After leaving that lab with some rest in store and now an actual map to follow, the path the teenagers took was simple to plot. It was winding and time consuming sure, but by Soleil's advice, they aimed to avoid fighting unless it was necessary, so they made sure to take paths that would lead them past any larger lab locations where there would be plenty of space and potentially released Honkai Beasts roaming around in them as a result. Even if they had the means to defend themselves just fine getting caught in the middle of a big enough swarm would prove troublesome, so the best strategy was to avoid even _potentially _putting themselves into a situation where that would be possible. Best to stay in the passageways where they could have a chokepoint and route of escape than a wide area where things could surprise them from odd angles.

But of course not like that just because they _intended _to avoid fighting unnecessarily meant they would actually be able to avoid fighting altogether. There was still zombified staff to deal with and the Honkai Beasts they _did _end up coming across, but to avoid wasting energy the group instead chose to find ways to get past them, killing here and there as they went.

Something that did become quite clear to Kiana and Soleil quickly was the disparity between their abilities and Mei's. Mei definitely had talent and her skill with a sword was the real deal, but it was clear she wasn't used to the changes to her body her time as a Herrscher no doubt had brought about in her. It was a standard fact that those who had the ability to resist Honkai Energy in whatever manner tended to undergo changes because of it.

The Kaslana and Empyrean clans were perhaps the two primary examples, known quite well as being well above normal humans in terms of physical abilities, and Valkyries often underwent enhancements to further their natural abilities and to better use their various kinds of equipment. A single Valkyrie even of a low rank had the ability to take on well trained normal soldiers with ease, being unstoppable against ordinary human foes… something that was downright necessary to combat the Honkai. Of course because of its corroding nature this meant Valkyries often had vastly shortened lifespands as a result, with all but those lucky enough to be born with incredibly high natural resistance having to accept that their lives wouldn't be as long as other's even outside of battle.

Though considering even with the powers inactive, Mei could still be considered a Herrscher as she _did _show some degree of that power, it was likely there would be little for her personally to worry about aside from her Herrscher side manifesting again. And it wasn't like she was holding Soleil or Kiana back as they fought their way through either… but it was clear their training gave them something more advanced than her, who'd only just learned of these kinds of things literally this very same day.

But, their advance wasn't stopped, and soon enough they neared where they were aiming for, the only obstacle left between the three and their goal being this final breadth of a lab they had to enter in order to get to their destination. As they entered the wide lab, they slowed their pace down to a far more cautious walk. Like other locations this lab had inert Honkai Beasts kept in it, and to exercise as much safety as they could, they slowed in order to make sure nothing could easily ambush them, because at this point rushing forward would be too impractical.

"Seems quiet… but that's just suspicious." Kiana swept her guns around as she scanned around them, Soleil nodding as he adjusted his grip on his drawn spear.

"These Beasts could go active at any moment, and we don't know if any of them are already out and roaming right now. And this open space means we don't have chokepoints and doors we can close behind us to use for an escape." Soleil was just on alert as his eyes scanned around, and behind the two Mei was even more cautious in her pace as she kept an eye at their sixes.

"Is it just me or does the air feel a bit heavier than it did before?" Mei said, the group stopping for a moment, and the girl took a closer look at one of the contained beasts. "The other inert ones still had a glow to them… but these, Soleil-kun, Kiana-chan, you noticed it too right? They're completely dim."

"Yeah she's right. All the other contained ones weren't dead… so why are these ones? As long as their core is intact a Beast can still be considered alive… so why are these ones actually dead for real?" Kiana taking a look at the Beasts herself, tilting her head. "It's like all the energy they _did_ have left was sucked out of them or something."

And that was when the air changed. Like Mei said it suddenly felt a bit heavier, and what didn't help the matter was the odd, mangled groaning that then came across the air. The three were put immediately onto alert, and a dark ebbing started to come from further ahead of them. What came with that dark ebbing was a girl in a kimono, and while she _seemed _different from the zombies they'd encountered, she seemed almost normal aside from the chalk white skin she had. Whatever was coming from the girl's mouth sounded like utter nonsense, completely indecipherable.

"What the… a zombie?" Mei said, looking concerned that Kiana and Soleil were on an even higher state of alert. "Is it not that?"

"Worse." Kiana muttered.

"Mei, remember how I said Herrschers come about from those who get drawn in by Honkai?" Soleil got a nod, and he nodded in response. "Well there's also a lesser form of Herrscher, Pseudo-Herrschers. They're not fully developed and they're just as corroded as zombies tend to be, but they retain enough "self" to act on their own, and often display limited powers of their own. They're not so much to be a major threat, but you still need to be cautious with one. Thankfully, they're as rare a happening as an actual Herrscher… but, well, that result already happened."

"Should we try and…" Mei stopped when Soleil and Kiana shook their heads. They didn't need to say much else beyond that. That response alone told her that unlike with her case, there was no saving this girl who was now looking at them with nothing but pure murderous intent in her eyes.

It was the corroded girl who attacked first, her arm moving out and sending out gouts of black fire at the three. Soleil shot forward as a vanguard immediately, dashing through the fireballs and right for the target, closing the gap quickly and swinging his spear forward, the target just barely dodging, only to be met by Kiana coming in with a whirling kick. The blow connected and sent the Pseudo-Herrscher skidding back, the follow up gunshots whizzed past but left grazes where they struck.

"We're sorry about this!" And then Mei came up from behind, her sword coming down, the Pseudo-Herrscher moving out of the way and striking back with a whip of her arm that caused the flames to follow after it, Mei taking a leap back to get clear.

Then with a yell, the Pseudo-Herrscher slammed an arm down on the ground, causing shades of black to spread around her, and then red figures, facsimiles of Honkai Beasts, rose up from the black pool. The summoned Beasts were quick to strike at the combatants, Soleil taking the first swing and thrusting his spear forward, and he looked surprised at how easily his weapon shot through the Beast, which shattered away and faded all too quickly. But that shocked expression quickly turned to a smirk as he also drew out his sword in his right hand.

"Well let's not worry too much! These summons are weak as all hell!" Soleil side stepped and brought his sword through another summoned Beast that lunged at him, Kiana and Mei following his lead and quickly cutting down the ones that went their way. While the summons kept coming out as the Pseudo-Herrscher tried to drive them off, the fact they went down so easily meant they could actually press it.

Kiana then ran along the side of it, her aim clear as she kicked off of one of the summons and towards Soleil. He caught on immediately and grabbed his spear in both hands, Kiana landing on it heavily enough to make his arms lurch, but Soleil was quickly able to change the able, pushing forward as Kiana started moving to leap again, launching the girl right over the crowd of fresh summons and above the Pseudo-Herrscher, her Mjolnirs glowing as she swung them down, slamming the projected energy hammer on her target with a yell.

As their foe was slammed into the ground, the summons also all shattered in time, and the Pseudo-Herrscher was left there in the crater. When she rose up as Kiana trotted back, a roar was given as she attempted to attack, but a sudden gunshot trailing blue light split the air and hit her, Soleil with his own gun drawn and staring down with a narrowed gaze.

"You can stop struggling… find some rest now, you can let go." Soleil's arm pulsed with energy as it started causing the orange glow of the gun in his hand to turn blue, and as the Pseudo-Herrscher lunged at him with a desperate roar, he pulled the trigger again, the energized shot piercing right through and causing her to stop dead and flop onto the ground.

Kiana holstered her guns and then clapped her hands together, the position she took all too similar to giving a prayer. When she finished, she then looked between Mei and Soleil with an awkward chuckle.

"Ehehe, just a little something we St. Freya Valkyries do. There's a protocol when it comes to dealing with allies who turn… we're supposed to put them down before they fully corrupt." Kiana said, a tinge of sadness in her voice. "I heard a lot of stories about people who lost friends like that, and it became a bit of a tradition to offer a prayer to them. I felt she deserved it too."

"Makes sense." Soleil went over to the body and knelt down, and to the surprise of the group, drifts of light began coming off the girl, and moments later, when the light faded the body seemed to vanish, but there was still some lump under the kimono… and with some shuffling, a body covered in white fur then poked out tail first, before following with a head… an fox near pure white except for odd pink highlights at the tip of it's tail and ears. It looked around at the three for a moment, somehow looking visibly confused, before hopping out of the kimono and dashing off, vanishing into the rows containment units before any of them could try and catch it.

"What was that?!" Mei said, Soleil standing up while holstering his weapons. "Did that fox turn into that girl?!"

"While Honkai Energy does primarily corrupt, it's also entirely possible for something to channel it in ways and then take on a human form." Soleil replied, pocketing his hands. "Whatever it was, that fox's own spirit must've been desperate enough to change it's form, but in the end it went wild… but as for how it's alive, hell if I know, some kind of fluke I suppose. Though it sure as hell looked odd."

"That definitely wasn't a normal fox at all." Kiana said, then giving a fist pump. "But now we're totally in the clear! Come on, let's get going and get on out of here before it gets too late!"

"Any idea where the rail line will even take us from here?" Soleil asked, and Mei nodded as they started for the elevator.

"If I remember correctly, from this point the rail line will pass by the entertainment district… and the first stop along the way from there would be the HOMUland park." Mei's statement made Soleil giving a hum and Kiana made a sound.

"Ohhh, that character Auntie Theresa doesn't like to admit she likes so much!" Kiana _then _got looks given to her for saying such an out of context thing, and she gave a chuckle. "Sorry, just remembered… but, if that's gonna be our first stop then let's go!"

* * *

Considering the time the group had been in the lab, it hadn't come to their surprise at all that the early day was starting to give way to the late afternoon. Because they had to take more time getting out of the place with their slow and avoidance based progression, the sun was beginning to set across the city once they'd exited the lab.

But the transition from the enclosed and stuffy lab setting to this brighter, much more open and easier to navigate open space was welcome by the three. The station was, of course, basically completely abandoned in the sense of nothing actually being _alive _there anymore. Even now it was starting to feel like a routine for the three to just deal with zombies that got too close to them.

"Okay so, we _can _just walk on the rails for a while. But, well, the fact there's no trains to be seen is concerning." Soleil was scanning up and down the rail line, and not a train was in sight. Odds were also high, since the air was still filled with the sounds of sirens, horns, and other things that had yet to actually die down, that any trains that _had _been going had crashed. They could follow the rails sure but who knew how far they'd be able to go before coming across a wrecked zone due to crashes?

"Now that we're actually _near _the city this really does feel like something out of an apocalypse story now." Mei noted, looking off at the still active fires in the city beyond them. As had been explained the odds were the entire city had been caught up in the area of the Impact that had gone off, meaning the odds of finding any other survivors were next to nil. The average person simply didn't have the level of Honkai resistance needed to actually _not _be immediately zombified from such an event.

And while it wasn't like Japan was a large country, Nagazora's infrastructure was the type that a sudden event like this meant news would _not _easily travel out of the city. It could possibly be _days _before any official news channels got reports about the sudden silence of such a massive hub city, because it would take that long for anything unusual to actually be noticed.

"Things like this are the reason our world is how it is." Kiana said, giving a sigh. "Even though it's been fourteen years since the last Impact, the damage that was caused during it was so severe a lot of parts of the world still haven't fully recovered from it, especially the Siberian region, which is still being torn apart even more by civil wars."

"You said second… does that mean there was an Impact like this even before that?" Mei asked, then her eyes went wide. "Wait a minute… back in the 1950s, the destruction of Berlin! I remember notes about it in history class, but it never went fully into it… the books just said it was a mass nuclear disaster."

"That's just the coverup story Schicksal put out." Soleil said, hopping down from the platform and onto the rail line. "What actually happened back then was the first Impact itself. The event was big enough the city was completely annihilated, every person in it dead within moments. The region around the ruins is still considered inhospitable because the Impact was so big Honkai Sources around there are still too thick for humans to resettle in. Germany's been struggling to recover from it ever since, but they never quite got back to where they used to be, and the Second Impact didn't help at all."

"I do remember things about that too." Mei said, her and Kiana also hopping down and following Soleil. "Fourteen years ago the world was struck by a massive disaster, some unknown incident deep in Siberia somehow being followed by meteors that struck the planet, and wild natural disasters in several cities that wound up killing millions of people all over the world."

"That was the Second Impact." Kiana said, her arms behind her head as they strode along. "Like with the First Impact, Schicksal put out a cover story in order to try and keep the public quiet. While Honkai phenomenon is common knowledge across the world, things like Herrschers and Impact disasters are things only people who work in researching Honkai itself or fighting it know about. If people knew that at seemingly any time, a being with the power to kill millions could pop up at any moment, it'd send the world into total chaos."

"Do you know anything else about that time?" Mei asked, Kiana and Soleil shaking their heads.

"Schicksal has a pretty tight seal on lots of information." Said Soleil, putting a finger up. "While the basics of the Second Impact are there in the records for anyone to access, a lot of the more in depth things are locked behind layers upon layers of security. I asked my dad about it since he participated in some of the early fighting, but he hasn't told me anything else aside from that. Whatever happened near the end of the disaster, nobody but the Director of Shicksal himself and likely a few others like my dad."

"Same with my parents and Auntie Theresa." Kiana added. "I asked but they wouldn't tell me anything, and I know for a _fact _Mama was the one who beat the Second Herrscher!"

"So the truth about it is a mystery to nearly everyone but those who participated." Mei murmured, again drawing her eyes to look out over the city. Nagazora was indeed a large city, it's population numbered in the millions, and it's place as a trade hub and technological center had earned it a place in the world… but now, within mere days, that had completely crashed down because of a random occurrence. When Mei thought about it, the fact humanity had reached the point they had if something like _this _could happen seemingly whenever it felt like it was truly remarkable. "I wonder… if there's a force like Honkai that wants to exterminate mankind, then is there one that wants to aid us to counter it?"

Soleil glanced back as Mei said that, moving aside the glove on his right hand to show his Stigmata. At this time he of course hadn't told either of the two girls about Sozo, and wasn't even sure _how _to bring it up at all. But his focus drew a bit further off from his Stigmata mark as they finally started to near the park that Mei had mentioned.

Now would likely be a good time to run down exactly _what _Homu is: A manga that had achieved massive popularity across the world, with it's chief character and mascot, the "rabbit" Homu being a flagship icon someone could see anywhere, with a long running and surprisingly deep history around the character and his fellows from the manga and various spin offs. How such a thing achieved the popularity it had, nobody knew, but one would be hard pressed _not _to find tons of things themed after Homu and his pals. Soleil himself was a bit loathe to admit it nowadays but he was a fan of the series, and his phone still had a few of the rarer Homu character phone straps on it, plus a couple of those near impossible to remove stickers on the back of it.

Attention hadn't been brought to those facts, thankfully for him at the time. Though let it also be said he didn't have much intent on being caught openly reading anything about the series at times, mostly because most of his peers who _did _know to some degree were all stuck in that near universal teenager phase of disliking anything that was popular.

_Crack_

And that was when Soleil had his own thoughts pulled on back. The walk alone the rail had been so non-troublesome he'd actually stopped focusing that much about it, so when his foot took a step that came with a sudden cracking noise, Soleil stopped dead, and looked immediately unsettled as another crack sounded.

"Just my rotten luuuuuuck!" Soleil barely had the time to turn as the area he was standing on crumbled away right under his feet just as he tried to leap away, but it fell short because his timing was right on with the portion of the rail crumbling.

"Soleil-senpai!" Kiana tried to reach out as Soleil fell, but she just barely missed his hand as he fell, the boy's somehow exasperated screaming trailing him down.

Though seemed that _despite _the fall some luck _was _on Soleil's side this time, because he came crashing down on top of one of the parks banners, the banner stretching down and depositing him quickly onto a foyer covering, which he also promptly dropped through and landed back to the ground with a heavy thud, but those two stops had slowed his fall enough all he got out of it was dull throbbing at his back as he sat up. Now was yet another time he was thankful for being as sturdy as he was.

"Soleil-senpai!"

"Soleil-kun!"

"I'm alright!" Soleil trotted out from the awning and looked up, spotting Kiana and Mei still up on the rail, both girls looking relieved as they saw him come out okay.

"We're gonna come down after you!" Kiana shouted, Soleil shaking his head. "Why not?!"

"Well unless you've got a battlesuit you can deploy to help break the fall!" Soleil said, Kiana shrinking back a bit. "You two head to the station, I'll meet you halfway in the park!"

"Alright! Kiana-chan, let's go!" Mei took off first, Kiana nodding, then stopping for a moment.

"Don't do anything dumb!" Kiana said, Soleil chuckling as she ran off after Mei.

"I should say the same thing to you." Soleil turned around, putting his hands on his hips as he sighed. "Alright, so this is happening now… so where would halfway even be?"

"_This way!" _And as if by prompt, that odd blue butterfly appeared again, drifting past Soleil and moving forward. Soleil chuckled after a moment, putting a fist to a palm.

"Nice! You didn't lead me wrong before, so I guess I'll follow you again!"

And so Soleil took off after the butterfly again. If things went right here, then they'd easily be able to get out of this park and keep up their pace. And he was confident that such a stroke of bad luck would _have _to rebound on him somehow right? Only it wasn't like Soleil could know just how that would actually happen, but, he would hope for the best.

"Who knows, maybe it'll be someone new?"

* * *

**A/N**

**Took me long enough to get back to this, granted I was kind of on a roll with another project... then I come back and bust the rest of this one out from where I'd left it in the span of a day. Oh but from here we're close now, hehehe... time for a certain bunny to show up.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Silver Wolf**

"Alright so I know I said I'd meet them halfway to the station… JUST WHERE THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE?!"

Soleil's skyward yelling was certainly reasonable. Since he'd set off after his tumble from the railway to meet up with Mei and Kiana, in a twist he really should have seen coming sooner, he now found himself completely and totally lost. Of all the things he'd come to let slip his memory thanks to the recently tumultuous day he had previously, his severe lack of direction was the main offending culprit.

And could one say he really shouldn't be getting lost since he had plenty of visible landmarks to use?

Yes.

Did that mean he _wasn't _going to get lost because somehow the path to that landmark alluded him like a fly?

Also yes.

"It's all HOMU themed so it all just blends together! AHHHHH!"

To illustrate in no simple terms just how bad Soleil was at finding a sensible path on his own, much like the wild nonsense of the morning that led him to encountering Kiana, within the span of about the ten minutes since he'd fallen off of the rail line, he'd gone to the very opposite side of the park from where he had started.

"JUST MY ROTTEN LUUUUUCK!"

"_It's… a little impressive you wound up here. On accident." _That butterfly flitted into Soleil's view, the young man grumbling as he tapped his foot. _"Just get to the Ferris Wheel, that's the center."_

"I know that captain obvious!" Soleil stamped his foot as he snapped at the butterfly, which flitted back at his yelling. "But all the HOMU stuff just blends together then my head starts spinning and where I went seems all backwards so I just go another way and before I know it I'm completely lost!"

"_You have it really bad huh?"_

"Speaking of having it bad…"

No doubt in answer to his yelling, a group of zombies were now shuffling out of the woodwork and towards him. Soleil grumbled as he drew his guns out, quickly aiming and downing the zombies in rapid turn. His gunplay wasn't at the level of Kiana's well-trained gun-kata, but if there was one skill Soleil could say he had, it was pin-point aim. Each zombie fell easily with clean shots being landed in their skulls. When they were all down, Soleil clicked the switches on the weapons, the chambers flipping out and pouring out steam.

"Ever so convenient, Honkai batteries." Soleil chuckled as he flipped the chambers back and holstered the weapons, scanning around to be safe. "Looks clear… for now."

_CRASH!_

"I spoke too soon…"

Soleil whipped around as he drew his sword and one gun, right in time to face a knight looking Honkai Beast come charging at him by way of crashing through one of the buildings. The opening shots Soleil fired slammed into the beast's shield-like structure, damaging it but not doing a thing to the main body. And as he dodged the creature's natural blade, before he could make a move against it, a faint sound suddenly hit his ears.

"Project Bunny 19C, deploy."

A soft voice carried through the air. A sudden crash came with enough force that Soleil was knocked back as _something _descended on the beast and kicked up a cloud of dust. Coming to a stop with a quick roll and using his sword as a break, Soleil saw one and then two silhouettes appear in the dust, before a gust of wind blew the dust aside to reveal who'd inadvertently lent a hand to the teenager.

Standing over the fading remains of the beast was a small girl, wearing a brown outfit littered with HOMU themed decorations, her thin arms carrying a doll of said character as well, though somewhat oddly with metallic leggings going all the way up to her thighs. She bore silver hair tied into a pair of tight curls from the side of her head, and eyes set on her pale face of a near similar shade of the color, and yet despite the situation, the girl's face was entirely expressionless, totally blank even as she turned to look at Soleil and tilted her head as if curious about his presence.

And as for the entity behind her, it was a large machine of some kind, like nothing Soleil had ever seen, large enough to dwarf both the girl and Soleil, it's massive right arm shifting in front of the girl a bit, while it's left arm was retracting an equally massive spike into it, before the shape reformed into a proper arm. It's head also turned to Soleil, and a few lights flickered across it's dark "visor" for a few moments.

"Odd… The Bronya wasn't expecting a survivor to be here." The girl spoke in total deadpan, only the barest of intonation in her voice as its soft tone carried out. Soleil winced a bit as his head began to ache again, seeing flashes with that exact girl, Bronya by her own words, present within them. "Who are you? You aren't one the Bronya was watching."

"Well at least you saved me the trouble of asking your name." Soleil said, shaking his head as he holstered his pistol, though keeping a hold of his sword out of caution more than anything. "And it's like you said, just a survivor trying to get out of this city before it goes even deeper into hell. Though you came right the hell out of nowhere."

"Nyet. The Bronya has been here the entire time." Soleil felt that there was a bit of obstinance behind Bronya's statement for some reason.

"Alright alright." Soleil sighed, making a noise as he also about now registered both of them were speaking Russian rather than Japanese. "Been way too long since I spoke Russian…"

"The Bronya will ask again, who are you?" Along with the repeat question, the robot floating behind Bronya raised its arm up, the limb morphing into a cannon that began glowing. "Answer, or the Bronya will have to consider you a potential threat."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Put the cannon down will ya?! I'm not a threat! Why would I be?!"

"Project Bunny 19C detects odd signatures from the subject." Bronya said, Soleil raising a brow and lowering the panicked arm he'd raised. "One who can combat Honkai should have some kind of Honkai signature… you do not. It's a negative value, as if Honkai energy around you weakens. This does not make sense to the Bronya. As such, logical process leads the Bronya to assume you are a potential enemy."

"I uh… have no idea how to respond to that."

"Then combat will initiate."

"SERIOUSLY?!"

Soleil dove out of the way as the cannon fired, the shot sailing past him and slamming into the building behind him, demolishing the wall in a gout of fire.

"ARE YOU NUTS?! You'd attack another human just like that?!"

Soleil's answer was a nod and another cannon shot going for him. He rolled out of the way of it and started running as more shots began to follow him. It was one thing to fight zombies and beasts or a Herrscher, but fighting another human was not something Soleil had on his list of things to do in this situation. But not like running would get him much of anywhere in this situation.

"_I'll have to fight back at the least… that robot thing seems like it does most of the legwork, which means that Bronya girl herself can't be that strong on her own… though if I let that make me think it'll be easy, I'll just be taking too many chances. And I could be dead wrong about it too." _

When he had a chance, Soleil drew his gun again, aiming more at the so-called Project Bunny 19C than Bronya. He found that his shots bounced off the robot's armor. That at least confirmed to him the thing had to be tougher, much tougher than a Honkai Beasts's carapace if the shots didn't easily damage it.

"So then… no use hiding away, time to get close!" Soleil readied his sword and dashed forward, shifting past cannon shots as they were fired at him. When he got close to Bronya, she drifted back, lifting off of the ground a bit, while Project Bunny's left arm shifted into the pile-bunker form, Soleil quickly moving as it started to fire. When the rod slammed forward and missed, digging into the ground, Soleil stamped on it before it could retract, using it to jump up and land on the machine itself, aiming his gun at Bronya before it could move.

"You're fast." Bronya started moving a hand to her back, Soleil pulling the hammer of his gun.

"Nope. Let's stop before thing get worse yeah? I'm not an enemy, I swear that much."

"The Bronya feels what just happened doesn't diminish the sense of danger."

"You attacked first!"

As if Bronya had seen the chance with Soleil's tsukkomi response, her small hand quickly shot up and grabbed the boy by the arm. Soleil looked surprised for a moment before, as if it was _easy, _Bronya threw Soleil right off of Project Bunny and through the air. Though as Soleil went flying while screaming in shock, Bronya's blank expression seemed to shift _ever _so slightly as he went sailing over her head. Soleil landed back to Bronya, shooting around and ready to go again… yet Bronya seemed more intent on something else suddenly.

"What's with the doe eyes huh?!"

"The HOMU straps on your bag." Soleil glanced back as Bronya pointed, and next he knew she was right in front of his face. It didn't help this also meant Project Bunny was looming over him. "Those are super limited run variants that were exclusive to an event here in Japan, how did you get them?"

"Wait is that what that was?" Soleil said, tilting his head. "I just kind of ended up here at random a few months ago and did some gashapon spins… people encouraged me to keep going after I got the first one for some reason. Are they that special?"

"Ja!" There actually seemed to be a bit of animation to Bronya's voice that time, Soleil backing up a bit as she got uncomfortably close. "The Bronya wasn't in Japan at the time, missing my chance to get them for my own collection. And you got all of them?"

"In a row, yeah."

"Unbelievable." Bronya then floated back, looking at the ground as her back slumped. "The odds of getting all four sequentially from a typical machine are exceptionally low, around maybe zero point one percent… such fortune defies any logical reasoning. The Bronya does not understand."

"Neither do I." Soleil tilted his head the other way as his eye twitched. The fact they'd gone from fighting to this all because the tiny girl had seen the character straps Soleil didn't even see as that special despite the now apparent value they might have held. Then again, he remembered the people in the shop had lost their minds about it. "Uhm… I actually have copies of them. Do you… want them?"

"Eh?"

"Yeah hold on… I think I keep them in my bag actually." Soleil holstered his gun and pulled his bag off, digging around in the pockets for a bit, past the medical supplies still shoved in there from his and Kiana's raiding of the school infirmary. "Ah ha!"

Soleil brought his hand out swiftly, and in it were copies of the same character straps dangling from his bag. Bronya looked shocked at seeing his statement about it was indeed true. Soleil then gently pulled one of the girl's hands out and placed the items there, Bronya staring at them as she pulled her hand closer. And even with her blank expression, the sudden twinkling in her eyes plus the somehow fluffier air around her made it clear what she was thinking.

"You're surprisingly transparent huh?" Soleil placed his bag back on, Bronya looking at him, obviously questioning if she could keep the things. "They're yours. I don't need two of them."

"Spasiba." Bronya nodded, and then opened up a pocket on the back of her HOMU doll, placing the newly acquired items into it, patting the doll once they were in. "Safe storage of collector's items assured. No chance for damage."

"So uh, can we say there's no reason to fight now?"

"No reason to continue hostilities found. The Bronya apologizes for recklessly attacking." Bronya and Project Bunny made small bows, Soleil raising his hands up.

"No reason for you to apologize. Things are kind of dangerous as is… but, well, what're you doing… actually no I guess you're not on your own with that robot I guess." Soleil put a hand to his head as he thought about it, then shaking his head as he shrugged. "Well, either way, why are you on your own here? It's dangerous with all the zombies and beasts around… actually, now this entire situation is just worth a ton of questions. Who _are you _anyway?"

"Bronya Zaychik. And this is Project Bunny 19C."

"I got that much. I mean past your name."

"Until recently, the Bronya was a student at Senba Junior High."

"A normal middle school girl wouldn't have a robot companion." Soleil pointed to Project Bunny as he made his point, and the robot promptly vanished from sight. "Don't hide it like it's still not there! You're obviously not a Schicksal Valkyrie by the looks of it, if they'd picked up on this mess by now we'd have seen deployments rolling in. Either you're part of some independent group I don't know about, or you're with Anti-Entropy."

"What's your name? The Bronya wishes to confirm something." Bronya seemed a bit more cautious. Soleil couldn't peg why, but maybe his guess had been more spot on than he was thinking.

"Soleil Empyrean."

Bronya audibly gasped at hearing "Empyrean." Soleil raised a questioning brow at the girl's clear surprise, and Bronya also started to visibly mull over something, like she was running options through in her head.

"Then that means you're Sigurd Empyrean's son." And that statement made Soleil gasp in turns, his eyes wide, and then out of impulse, he grabbed Bronya by the shoulders.

"You know where dad is?! How?!"

"Please do not grab so tightly. The Bronya doesn't know where Sigurd Empyrean is." Bronya brushed Soleil's arm, and he let go of her, clicking his tongue in clear frustration. "But the Bronya has met him before, elsewhere than here. The Bronya also knew your name, as he mentioned a son who lived here in Nagazora."

"That damn old man… but that doesn't answer my original question, who are you even with anyway?"

"The Bronya cannot say right now."

"Uh, whatever, no use pressing it." As Soleil moved back and rubbed the back of his head, Bronya tilted her head as she started looking at Soleil a lot more closely… like she was noticing something now. "Why are you staring?"

"You look like her." Bronya's statement had no context, Soleil raising a brow, though Bronya shook her head. "Nevermind, not important. The Bronya has a request."

"Okay."

"Are you traveling with anybody else?"

"Uh… yeah. Two others. We got split up after I uh… fell off the monorails walkway." Soleil looked to the side as he remembered that incident that caused this mess to begin with. Bronya was giving off clear confusion now.

"How would one fall from the maintenance walkway?"

"I'm just unlucky alright?!"

"You continue to defy the Bronya's sense of probability." Bronya then gave a hum and nodded, Soleil tilting his head at her. "The Bronya has another request. Would joining you and your companions be possible? The Bronya calculates that by going with you, the chances of making it out of this city safely are significantly higher than otherwise."

"Well… I don't see a reason not so. Why the hell not? The more the merrier I'd say." Soleil then held a hand out, Bronya nodding and taking it, the two giving a shake to solidify the new partnership. "Nice to have you on board, Bronya… now, as for getting to the center…"

"SOLEIL-SENPAIIII!"

"GWAGH!"

Though no sooner that he turned did Soleil get barreled over by a particular flying object with white hair. When he was able to collect himself, he was immediately greeted by Kiana burying her face in his chest as she held him tight enough to cause more than a bit of pain in his spine.

"Kiana-chan, you can't just go running ahead like that! And don't tackle people either!" And Mei was soon to follow, Soleil letting out a groan, Kiana shooting up. Neither noticed Bronya, yet, though the small girl was staring, her head cocked to the side as the disbelief about things continued to mount for her.

"But we looked everywhere after we couldn't find him at the ferris wheel! Soleil-senpai, why are you all the way over here anyway? We would've met up ages ago!" Kiana grabbed Soleil by the shirt and yanked him up, Soleil looking to the side with a stilted look.

"Would you believe me if I said I got lost?"

"How did you get lost?!"

"I just did alright?!"

"Hostile actions confirmed." And then Bronya's deadpan voice hit Kiana's ear, the white-haired girl yelping and skittering away as Project Bunny's cannon arm appeared. "Starting retaliation."

"What the heck is this?! Where'd that crazy robot come from?!" Kiana yelled, Soleil shooting between the two with his arms wide.

"Wait wait wait! Bronya put the robot away!" Soleil shouted, Bronya tilting her head. "She's not an enemy, these two are the ones I'm with!"

"Ehhh?! Soleil-senpai is _this _what you were doing?!" Kiana yelped, shooting up and getting in Soleil's face, pointing off at Bronya. "Flirting with some short girl?! Whyyyy?! Look at her, she's small and flat and small!"

"Hostile intent confirmed." Bronya readied the cannon again, Kiana grabbing her guns, Soleil putting a hand to his head.

"Soleil-kun…" And Mei had a hand near her mouth with a shocked look, Soleil letting out a groan.

"Oh don't look at me like that! Look, can we stop with the hostilities! Kiana, guns down, Bronya, Project Bunny, back wherever it goes, please!" After a moment, with Soleil looking around, any drawn weapons were put down, though Kiana and Bronya had lightning shooting between them. "Well that got established quickly. Look, just let me explain… somewhere else than right in the open."

* * *

Kiana let out a hum as she set down the water bottle she was holding, Soleil having finished his explanation of the meeting with Bronya, mostly leaving out the finer details of their short fight. The party had in the mean time retreated into a fast food joint located in the park near the monorail station, barring the door off with moved trash containers. They'd managed to at least find some food and supplies there, as much as could work for the lot anyway. Even if Kiana and Bronya couldn't stop their glaring contest.

Mostly because Bronya had decided to use Soleil's lap as a seat.

"So she was from Senba too hmm? Bronya-chan, did anybody else from the middle school make it out too?" Mei said, Kiana flinching at the sudden use of the endearing honorific towards the small girl. Bronya shook her head in response, Mei's hands curling together. "I at least hoped a few others could have made it out. Are we really all that's left? Nagazora had millions of people here."

"Nagazora isn't the only place effected." Bronya said, the three older teenagers gasping. "The Bronya has confirmed that the Impact that occurred also effected several other locations across the world. Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East were all effected in different locations."

"The entire world got hit?" Mei murmured.

"It is not unusual." Bronya added. "However, damage is always most severe at the epicenter of the Impact."

"Like 14 years ago." Kiana said, folding her arms. "Siberia was the most heavily effected region, but the damage spread as outbreaks started happening across the world, not to mention all the damage done by those meteors that fell too."

"Well no wonder we haven't seen any signs of Schicksal or Anti-Entropy yet. They're probably occupied just dealing with the smaller outbreaks, and since Nagazora was the epicenter, not like any news about it could get out. This place isn't exactly Soukai City or Arc City, places fit with Honkai detectors that can send out warnings when outbreaks happen." Soleil noted, scanning over files on his phone.

"And who knows how much longer until one of them eventually notices? If Beasts are showing up, that means there's still a powerful enough Source to cause problems." Kiana said, then jabbing a finger at Bronya. "Also, why have you been sitting on Soleil-senpai's lap this entire time?! That spot isn't yours!"

"It's not yours either." Soleil muttered, Kiana giving him a "why?!" expression.

"Because the Bronya has little sister privileges." Bronya said, holding up a v-sign while Project Bunny, wherever it was, let out a very familiar sound for anyone who was an avid gamer.

"Why the Trophy sound effect?!" Soleil said, looking too the faint shimmer that was Project Bunny.

"Well, either way, now we're a group of four!" Mei clapped her hands together, the happier look causing the tension to die away immediately. "And I say the more the merrier. And if there's a chance help might arrive soon, all the better! Though, where should we get moving too from here is the question? If we leave the park by the rail line, then we'll end up heading towards the city center if we go along the monorail. But would that area be safe?"

"If we get to a place with lots of places to hide out and supplies, then we should be fine." Soleil said, turning his phone and setting it onto the table, a holographic map appearing out of it. "I managed to pull some map data from the ME Corp facility, among other things. We'll be heading right through the market district on our way to the center. And while I hate to do some looting, not like we have a choice."

"We should try and find a convenience store along the way too. It's only been a couple of days since the outbreak, so there shouldn't be anything that'll have expired yet, so we should be good as long as we go that route." Kiana added, looking eager at the idea of getting her hands on a whole stock of food.

"My bag can only carry so much, let's remember that." Soleil pat said bag, which was set to the side for now.

"I'd also like to try and find a place to maybe take a shower." Mei spoke under her breath, but Soleil and Kiana still caught it, both immediately checking themselves by scent, and a general mutter went about. "Eh?! Did I say that too loud?"

Bronya looked around the group as they all started laughing, though the mirth was interrupted when the door got slammed by a walking by zombie.

"Hah! Can't get in here past that you stupid zombie!" Kiana turned and laughed at the shambling body, which proceeded on it's way, though now it was also apparent that a crowd was forming outside of the building. "Uh oh… we're going to have to go out the back aren't we?"

"Ir would be safer." Bronya said. "It would only waste time if we fought our way through. The Bronya advises avoiding combat unless necessary."

"Why do you talk like that?" Kiana said, Bronya tilting her head.

"The Bronya doesn't understand Kianaidiotka's question."

"What's with that phrase?! I'm not an idiot!"

"Says the girl who told us she hates taking tests." Soleil looked at Kiana with a snide look, and she let out a whine as she gave a pouting look.

"Soleil-senpai don't take her side!"

"Who said I was taking sides?"

"Geez both of you." Mei sighed as Kiana started swinging at Soleil, Bronya just shrinking down as Soleil laughed off Kiana's pouting. For a bunch of teenager's all alone in a zombie and now likely monster infested city, at least they were managing to have a good time about it.

* * *

"Sheesh, how deep am I going to need to go? Dammit Frederika, be clearer about things sometimes."

Sigurd traced a hand along the wall of the ruined building he was passing, rubbing his fingers as some of the structure flaked off. Despite being "ancient" ruins, the structures themselves while dilapidated looked awfully close to modern day constructions, almost like the city had been thrown out of time and landed in the present day by some mad turn of fate.

Of course though, the man knew better than that. The Previous Civilization as it was called, the one that pre-dated "modern" historical records, so readily lost and kept under cover by groups across the centuries only the few knew of the fact it existed.

But, it was what Sigurd was _looking for _in these particular ruins that was proving to be a problem. It wasn't like there was some spire that stood out against everything else that said "this is where you need to go" or anything like that. No, he could only be so lucky after all.

Sigurd sighed to himself and pulled his left glove aside, looking at the blue Stigma mark located there. Ever since he had arrived, he'd felt this sensation from it, like the Stigma was somehow reacting to something.

"That at least tells me I have to be going in the right direction. Stigmata were a technology derived from records found at these places… yet somehow we Empyreans have a natural one. That has to mean something." Sigurd looked around at the span before him, ducking into an alleyway as he spotted Honkai Beasts a ways off. He didn't want to tire himself getting into constant fights, so even if in the end he was still leaving a bit of a trail of soon to fade Beasts behind him, he kept his search a priority.

Though perhaps he should've looked a bit more as his foot moved back, because like father like son, Sigurd's foot ended up pressing down, and immediately tripped on a piece of rubble.

"Crap!" Flailing a bit to get his balance, Sigurd pulled out his weapon and slammed it into the wall to make a break for himself, sighing as he stopped the sudden fall, grumbling as he pulled himself up and leaned back against it. "Ugh, damn my luck. Seriously Sigurd, tripping on a chunk of rubble? Thought I'd gotten over this damn misfortune of mine by now."

The man sighed and then tapped his left hand against the end of the alley, his eyes going wide in surprise when it suddenly gave out a glow, a segment of the wall shifting away and revealing a corridor that lead down into who knows what… but what stood out to him was what showed as the secret door had opened, an emblem he knew from the old records, a flaming bird above the earth.

"Well well, guess it wasn't so unlucky after all. There really is a hidden Fire Moth station around here. Now, let's hope my luck actually holds out and I find what I'm looking for down here." As the man strode into the dark before him, he gave out a single thought as well. _"And whatever is going on with you Soleil, good luck. I'll be seeing you soon enough kid. Just give a bit longer… I'm still looking for someone."_

* * *

And back in Nagazora, the party was again making their way across the monorail, now with the addition of Bronya and _hopefully _without any more trouble from random flares of bad luck. Which meant there was high spirits among the four that they could make good progress. Kiana and Mei were at the front chattering on, mostly about some things Soleil didn't pay mind too, while Bronya floated along on Project Bunny in the center. Soleil stayed at the back, his eyes at his phone as he was scanning it, taking the time now to read the files he had found and closed back at the ME Corp facility.

And the knitted look on his face showed his troubled thoughts as he read the files over top to bottom.

"Project MEI…" Soleil looked up from the device and too Mei, then glancing down at the phone again as he scrolled the page, the pulled up file scrolling to a section with a picture of a young Mei on it, as well as a mysterious dark blue gem next to it. "One of the Cores recovered after the Second Impact… the Core of Conquest. And according to this… Mei has that Core inside of her?"

The Herrscher Core, a fundamental thing that made a Herrscher what it was. Effectively, it was a dense collection of Honkai Energy that contained massive amounts of power. The Second Impact had been defined by having been executed by a Herrscher with incredibly power, power brought about because she had been able to somehow obtain and use multiple Cores at once. Soleil only knew about this fact because his father had informed him of that matter.

And of the Cores that had been recovered from the Second after her defeat, the Core of Conquest was one of them. Due to the hectic situation, a few of them were retrieved by Anti-Entropy and others by Schicksal, and Soleil knew that both organizations were likely using them for experiments, to see what kind of power they could claim from the things.

"_But putting a Core inside of a person? It's like… it's like they were trying to _make _a Herrscher of their own. Who in their right damn mind would do that?"_

That brought back to mind one of the problems Soleil had nagging at him. They may have been able to get Mei back to normal the first time, but there was also always the risk that _something _could trigger her Herrscher side to resurface and attack again. He just worried about what that could end up being.

His hand went to his pendant as he closed his phone and let out a breath. He figured, at the least, there was no express use worrying about it too much, for now. He'd keep that thought there, to be prepared in the case it did happen. But he was going to put trust in his friend first and foremost.

"And if it does happen again, I'll snap her out of it as many times as I have too."

"Heyyy! Soleil-senpai, don't start lagging behind us!" Kiana called, Soleil stopping to see the three girls had started to get ahead of him. "We'll be able to get off soon, so come on, let's hurry up so we can get some food already!"

"Yeah, sorry!" Soleil stepped off to catch up, nodding to himself. "Yeah… for any of them too. I'll make sure we get out of here."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Flux**

"Alright alright, I got the message, hot damn."

The man let out a grumble as he sat up on the paltry bed of the quarters he was residing in, a hand slapping onto the holographic panel that had opened up at the nightstand. The man ran his fingers through his wayward mop of black hair, in an untied state that left it long enough to fall down to his mid-back, and a mess of a fringe that covered his right eye, a shift of the locks showing them both to be yellow in color.

"What's the buzz about now?" The man mumbled as he scratched at the stubble on his chin, tapping the holo-screen to pull up the call. "What's happening now that's making things so loud eh lieutenant?"

"Good to know you're as perceptive as ever, Captain Kobayashi." The woman on the screen said so in a terse manner, the man, Hisashi Kobayashi, giving a sigh as he shook his head to get loose of the drowsiness. "The alert went off because the UN just filed out a report."

"Just when we got a day off." Hisashi pulled a hand down his face, the lieutenant giving a hum.

"Well considering that you and Major Murata spent your days off from managing the outbreaks here in Hong Kong. Speaking of the Major, I assume she's with you?"

"Where else? And not like Durandal isn't just being a one girl show out there no matter what we do. Now, what's this about an alert from the UN?" With a bit of effort since he had to pry himself free of a pair of slim arms, Hisashi got up and began throwing on the parts of his black captain's uniform, also throwing on a trench coat with the combat ready attire.

"It's Nagazora City." And that name got the captain's attention. "Several companies who had sent shipments out attempted to contact the city some nights ago and were met with total silence. Sensors are also picking up high levels of Honkai Energy there. It's possible the epicenter of the Impact was there."

"That's also a place where ME Corp had a pretty big research facility." Hisashi put a hand to his chin as he mulled that over, giving a nod. "Any other information that the crew was able to gather?"

"We ran a check of scans from the past couple of days. Around a night ago, there was a massive spike in Honkai Energy located around the campus district where several schools are… but then it just suddenly died down. Readings have been relatively stable since then, so we can assume Beasts will be appearing amid the zombies as well."

"Which means there's little chance of any survivors to find. We'll search anyway. Perhaps we can get to the ME Corp facility and find anything useful there. I doubt anything could have been scuttled if the city was the epicenter." Hisashi had opened a satellite scan of the city, and then he raised a brow when the readings he was seeing showed another, quite strange, value among the scans. "Wait a frickin'… is there something wrong with the scanners? Why the hell is there a _negative _value among the readings?"

"That… we're not sure ourselves, Captain. It appeared around the same time as the large Honkai spike. It remained about as long as the spike, and then also died away. We've been trying to analyze the signature, but to no luck."

"Worry about it later. Charter a course for Nagazora. Estimated arrival?"

"If we leave at top speed, we'll arrive within the next few hours. Going by the difference in time zones, around midnight in Japan."

"Perfect. I'll get the Major up and ready." Hisashi closed the windows, pulling his hair back and tying it up into a bushy tail.

He went back to the bed, where all that was poking out from the shifted cover was several strands of vibrant red hair, and when he gave a tap to the occupant's shoulder, he got a whine and a refusal to move. Hisashi just sighed as he spun his hat on a finger, an eye closed.

"Now now Himeko, it's not the time to be slacking. I know you're not hungover so don't try and tell me you are." Hisashi placed the hat on his head, and the covers moved ever so slightly to reveal the woman's red eyes looking at him with an annoyed gaze. "And there's the firebird."

"You're not fun when you're in work mode, Hisashi." Himeko pulled the sheet the rest of the way down, exposing the rest of her pale, striking features as she sat up, Hisashi pulling the brim of his hat down to shield his eyes, considering the woman was currently naked. The motion just earned a smirk from the woman as she propped up her large chest with her arms. "And where's the bravado from a few hours ago hmm? Why look away?"

"What, I can't afford you a bit of privacy?" Not that Hisashi wasn't smirking himself, moving his hat up, Himeko giving him another pouty look. "Just get dressed and we'll head to the bridge. Lieutenant is probably gonna grill us for wasting time anyway. But hey, if it makes you feel any better, we just may have found a hit."

"Well then why didn't you just say so?" Himeko immediately leapt off the bed and started throwing on her own uniform, chuckling all the while. "If we can get a good fight in, then it'll be worth the interruption. I gotta cut something up as payback anyway! Who knows, if we're lucky it'll be a Herrscher."

"I wouldn't count that as "lucky" in any context."

"Oh you're just a spoilsport, Captain."

"It's called not being reckless." Hisashi poked Himeko on the forehead with two fingers as he made the point, the woman bringing her hands there as she clicked her tongue. "Some things just don't change about people huh?"

"And other times they quite do." Himeko huffed, then grabbed Hisashi by his tie. "Be sure to pay me back once we're all clear here, alright sweetheart?"

"Could you try not to sound like you're threatening me?"

"Ahaha! If I'm threatening you with anything Hisashi, it's a good time." Himeko released the captain and went to the door, chuckling as he it opened and she looked back. "Besides, you always like seeing me bloom on the battlefield."

"That I can't lie about." Hisashi chuckled as he fixed his tie, though still leaving it loose, turning on his heel and out the door. "Time for the _Hyperion _to get to work."

* * *

"Woohoo! Tons of ramen to pick from!"

"I'm amazed how much is here. I do apologize, but we need to take some of this."

Soleil glanced back from keeping watch at the door of the convenience store with Bronya as Mei and Kiana rifled across the shelves of various amenities. As they'd mostly expected once they'd gotten out of the station and into Nagazora's main shopping district, there'd been some zombies they couldn't easily avoid as they made their way through.

"The Bronya believes when the impact occurred, every citizen in the city was instantly turned." Bronya spoke up, Soleil looking back to the short girl as her eyes traced across the shambling remnants of the people outside. "Anyone without the proper resistance turns quickly after all."

"Or other things." Soleil noted. "When we were in the ME Corp facility near the campus district, we ran into a Pseudo-Herrscher that had been a fox. Even when it turned back to normal it still looked unusual. It wasn't the toughest thing to fight but, still… and I'm sure soon enough there's going to be stronger Beasts than just Angels and Chariots around."

"No worries." Bronya said, puffing out her chest a bit. "With Project Bunny 19C, the Bronya predicts there will be little problems going forward."

"Well that's good to know." Soleil put a hand on Bronya's head, and not a second after he'd given the young girl the affectionate gesture, Kiana giving a yelp could be heard all the way across the store. "She's kidding right?"

"Come on, that's not fair!" Kiana whined, dashing over fast enough to kick up dust behind her. "Why does she get attention like that and I don't?!"

"Do something worth a headpat and I'll give you one." Soleil said, his look going flat as Kiana got stars in her eyes. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not gonna do it."

"Come oonnn!"

"Ugh, fine, just so you won't bug me about it." Soleil caved as Kiana got in his face, Bronya giving a stare as his hand went from her head to Kiana's, who let out a happy chuckle as Soleil lightly ruffled her hair… and then giving a snide look at Bronya, yet again prompting lightning between them.

Which also meant the headpat turned into a chop as Soleil's brow cricked, Kiana yelping as she held where she'd been struck.

"Whyyyy?!"

"None of that." Soleil said, firmly setting his tone, Kiana letting out another whine.

"Alright, that's as much as we can fit into the bag." Mei then came trotting up, handing Soleil his now stuffed as much as safely could messenger bag, which he hummed at the weight of as he put it on his back. "I packed in enough food I think it should last us a couple of days."

"Well again, hopefully we're lucky and the signal clears up soon enough to contact somebody." Kiana said, going to the entrance as she drew her pistols, looking outside to check how clear it was out on the roads. "If, well, someone _isn't _already on their way."

"We could only be so lucky I guess huh?" Mei remarked, a hand to her sword, Bronya giving a small sound as she tugged at Mei's shirt.

"The Bronya will be sure to also protect Subject Mei." Said the small girl. "The crowd won't get in our way."

"Hey hey hey, what's with these declarations to _my _senpais huh?!" Kiana snapped, glaring at Bronya, who gave her another flat look. "I was already doing that thank you!"

"The Bronya has calculated that Subject Kiana's survival priority is lower than those of Subject Mei and Soleil-niisama."

"And even that style of honorific?!"

"Kiana-chan, come on now, let's not get heated. We need to get moving before it's dark after all." Mei said, between both of the other girls, Soleil with a hand over his eyes. "Considering where we are, we shouldn't be that far away from a residential area either. So by the time night hits, we can hunker down for the night in some of the apartments."

"Well, the zombies sure as hell won't be able to get to any higher ones." Soleil said, checking the map he had downloaded again to confirm Mei's statement. "But we still need to keep watch for any Beasts too… they won't be so kind as to just let us take a night in a high place."

"Yeah but we've been lucky so far, what's the worst to worry about now right?" And the others couldn't help but stare at Kiana as she dared say the set of words that could in all possibility result in them being jinxed as the day went on.

"Knowing my luck, who knows?" Soleil muttered, a hand to his face again as he let out a long sigh.

* * *

"Move move move!"

"Since you're already dead don't get in the way!"

The group's move through the city had become a dash as they'd come head long into a group of zombies along the way. Kiana's guns went off as Soleil barreled his spear through a pair who got close. Though as for why they were _running, _it more had to do with the Honkai Beast that came crashing through one of the buildings behind them.

It was a type called a Ballista, a quadrupedal type with short back legs and massive forelegs, a divot in its front that usually carried a large sphere, but that this one had long cast away before the encounter.

The three teenagers turned with their firearms drawn, peppering the beast with shots, but this larger case of a Ballista proved to have rather tough armor, the shots that hit it shaving away at it's carapace sure, but far from doing more than just shearing away the upper layers of the armor.

"Tch, stupid thing!" Soleil raised his gun again as they jumped back from the Ballista smashing it's arms down at them, aiming for it's belly and firing a charged bolt of fire, the bolt slamming into the underbelly and making the beast stumble back as a chunk fell from it. "Come on, what's with the things getting this tough already?! And heck, where'd Bronya go?!"

The answer to that question came as the three spotted Bronya dropping down from a building. With a mere muttering, Project Bunny burst into form behind her as she fell, and then came crashing down on the Ballista as it's pile bunker shot forward, a loud sound crashing through the air as the Ballista was run through from the head, the road cracking apart around the impact area. Bronya lightly landed as the Beast collapsed and Project Bunny vanished, giving her HOMU doll a pat.

"Mission accomplished."

"Bronya, you showed up right on time! Thank you!" Mei went up to the small girl and gave her a pat to the head, Bronya making a noise that let off she was clearly proud, Kiana raising a brow.

"Why thank her? She just showed up suddenly and made a mess! I almost got caught in it to boot! What a useless midget!" Kiana said, Soleil groaning again while Bronya just glanced at Kiana.

"System has ruled that Subject Kiana's safety is the lowest priority."

"Are you trying to start a war?!"

"The Bronya has a 99999999% percent chance of winning."

"Mine will be 100%!"

"Will you two stop?!" Soleil then went and chopped both girls on the head as the stare down started again.

Mei however, was staring at the fallen Ballista as it's body began fading while the other three started bickering a bit… well, more Kiana whining to Soleil and him retorting about it.

"_It's been a while since then… why are these things appearing? And this one was even bigger than the ones we fought in the lab." _Mei thought, catching a piece of the drifting remnants of the carapace. _"How long until they start showing up in groups?"_

"Hm? Hey you took a hit." Soleil's speaking up got Mei to notice there was a small cut on her arm, a few trickles of blood coming from it. "Geez, didn't you notice? Give me a second I'll deal with it."

"Ah, no, it's really not that bad."

"Even if it's just something small, better safe than sorry."

Soleil's insistence as he checked Mei's arm made her shy away a bit, the boy reaching into his bag and quickly pulling out some of the medical supplies, getting to cleaning off the cut with a swap and bandaging it quickly.

And Kiana and Bronya were just staring as they could immediately sense the mood in the air that Soleil was completely oblivious too as Mei blushed a bit as he worked.

"Soleil-senpai is kind of dangerous." Kiana said, Bronya giving a hum.

"Unintentional charm."

"I-I can hear you two you know?!" Mei said, her face only getting redder.

"Don't jerk around." Solei firmly said, his grip on Mei's arm getting a bit tighter in response. Once he did finish the wrap, he pat the bandage and nodded. "There. Next time, make sure you catch it. Even if it's a small injury, you gotta take care of yourself. We're all getting out of here alive, so don't go neglecting anything."

"Y-Yeah." Mei held the bandage as she moved turned to hide the even worse blush now on her face, Soleil tilting his head and queuing the question marks.

"Soleil-senpai you're being dense!" Kiana shouted, Soleil just tilting his head more. "Geez!"

* * *

As night was starting to come down on the city again, the group had gone and situated themselves in one of the abandoned apartments, the doors barred off by whatever furniture was easy to shove in the way to be safe. Mei was snoozing on the couch with Bronya using her lap as a pillow, and Soleil was the one currently on watch duty, standing at the balcony and scanning the streets and buildings around them to be safe.

Sure the zombies may have simply been shuffling around on the ground below, but with the potential threat of Beasts potentially coming around, a rotating watch was decided as something that'd be handier than if they didn't have one.

"Se~npai!"

Though the quiet watch stopped being such when Kiana latched herself to Soleil's back, and the boy caught the faint scent wafting off her still damp hair, since considering the places were still running, Kiana had elected to shower before she took her turn to sleep as well. Soleil gaining a faint blush just made Kiana snicker since a couple of _other _things were pressing into his back to boot.

"Not going to sleep immediately?" Soleil cleared his throat as she spoke, Kiana shaking her head both to respond and also nuzzle into his shoulder. _"She's like an affectionate cat."_

"In a bit, I need to recharge on my senpai power!"

"That kinda joke eh? Heh." Soleil chuckled, deciding to give his junior a pat on her head, which earned him a happy giggle. "You acting like this cause of Bronya or something? You've been snippy since the park."

"I was here first, so I think I get some special privileges of my own. Geez, "little sister privileges", where does she get off saying that?" Kiana pouted, Soleil poking her puffed out cheek, which Kiana responded to by lightly snapping at his finger.

"May have something to do with the fact she apparently knows my old man. Whatever the hell he's been getting up to this past year, I've got no clue… still, a hint is a hint I guess." Soleil said, Kiana's eyes going a bit wider. "Speaking _of _dads, what's the deal with your parents? Or maybe the better question is what the deal is. You're a Kaslana, so the obvious thing is your Siegfried's daughter… or as I know him, the guy my dad thinks is the biggest idiot ever… but also a brave one."

"Well he's definitely not wrong. Papa's a _huuuge _idiot, but, he's also super brave. Papa kind of taught me everything I know." Kiana said, a proud smile on her face.

"So what, he a teacher for the Valkyries or something?"

"Not in the slightest." Kiana retorted, Soleil raising a brow. "Mama runs the school I went to, St. Freya Academy, along with my Aunt Theresa. But, Papa had this big idea a few years ago to take me around the world for "training", but then right in the middle of it went and ditched me once he saw I was learning how to control my powers. I uhm… got a bit of a late start compared to some Valkyries who start as young as me… stupid Durandal and her dumb overpowered cheats."

"So, you've got a rival huh?" Soleil mused, then looking to the back of his hand. "Doesn't sound much different from me though. Most of my memories were all about traveling from place to place with my dad. I know he took me when he left Schicksal fourteen years ago, and I've obviously got the scars to prove how _that _went."

"I mean I think the little nick in your eyebrow is cute." Kiana then poked said nick, Soleil giving a hum. "But I just think you're cute as a whole!"

"Not a word I think would be a working descriptor for me." Soleil felt a small sinking feeling as he looked to the side, Kiana chuckling as she wrapped her arms around him a bit tighter.

"You're also reliable, cool, and looking out for us too." Kiana's addition made Soleil's face redden a bit again, the boy's eyes going towards the rising moon. "Plus, it's just warm around you. Hehe, you do live up to your name huh?"

"Now you're just _trying _to embarrass me." Soleil sighed as Kiana laid her head on his shoulder while giggling at him.

"Well she's not wrong." And both looked back as they heard Mei approach, the girl putting a finger to her lips since of course Bronya was still sleeping. "It's a little strange but kind of wonderful I'd say. We've all only known each other for a few days, but it feels like we've known each other for a long time."

"Hehe… geez you two." Soleil chuckled then looked to the star spangled sky above, giving a nod. "Kiana, Mei, I promise, we're getting out of this city. I'll protect all of you so that we can get out of here safely… and hopefully actually get somewhere afterwards."

"The same goes for me!" Kiana said, giving a laugh. "You're both my dear senpais, so of course I'll protect the both of you as well!"

"Kiana-chan, Soleil-kun…"

Though as the light mood carried on, Soleil flinched as a sudden feeling hit him. A flash passed through his mind, one of a blade bearing down on the building, of rubble flying all over… and lightning arcing across the night sky.

"Guys… I think we need to get moving." Soleil said, Kiana and Mei looking at him with confused eyes. "We need to get moving now!"

As Soleil began moving, he also realized that flash was more than just something random. Because as they all reacted, that exact blade he'd seen came bearing down on the building. Moving in time, the group went flying from the apartment as the massive, natural blade from whatever Beast had made it's presence known demolished the entire center of the structure. The Beast's "eye" gleaned as it registered the presence of the people who had tripped it off, Soleil already starting to draw his guns.

The Beast then reared back it's other arm, a lance like structure. Bronya was the one who reacted faster, Project Bunny appearing with its own lance arm at the ready. The two weapons collided at their points, though as the weapons held, the Beast moved its sword arm to strike as well. Project Bunny shifted it's shield, but the blade slammed into it like a paddle meant to swat a fly. The impact sent Bronya and Project Bunny flying down the street, crashing through multiple buildings due to the force of it all.

"Bronya!"

But the Beast didn't bother to wait as Soleil and Mei turned their eyes from it, it's already raised blade quick changing direction to bear down on them. Soleil moved an arm out with the blue energy ribbons flowing from it, but something else pushed both him and Mei back at once.

"If you two are always thinking about Bronya, I'll get really jealous you know?"

The two older teens watched in horror as the upper edge of the falling blade fell on Kiana. It tore itself across her back from the left shoulder to the right hip, blood spraying from the wound as Kiana fell forward, onto the shocked Mei. Soleil stumbled back but kept his footing, grating his teeth, looking at Mei as the horrified girl shook, Kiana's breathing so shallow it was barely even there.

"Ki… Kiana-chan?" Mei murmured, her eyes going wide as blood stained to her hand.

"Mei, she's still alive! We just have to get out of here now!" Soleil snapped, but as he reached out to Mei, a spark of lighting lashed at his hand as Mei's mouth shuddered open.

A scream ripped from Mei's throat as the Beast raised its sword again… only when it crashed onto a barrier of electricity, the blast that followed blowing the blade, and Soleil, back. Soleil crashed to the ground amid some rubble, groaning as he stood back up while holding the arm he'd landed on. His eyes went wide as he observed the lightning gather around Mei, beginning to form rough forms like a wing, while her left arm coursed with glowing lines and a dark purple color, her eyes glaring red… and the Stigmata of the Herrscher showing on her hip from the torn uniform.

"Shit…" Soleil grabbed at his pendant, his teeth grating again.

Cradling the unconscious Kiana, Mei drifted up as the energy behind her formed into her Stigmata mark, and then changed again into the Herrscher's wing, backlit by the full moon high at its crest. The returned Herrscher looked at Soleil with a sideways glance, then back to the Beast.

"Lynchpin, I suggest you back away." Mei commanded, lifting an arm at the Beast as it rose up, lightning gathering into a massive ball above it. "Disappear."

Soleil ran as the ball struck down at the beast. The creature's carapace began bubbling like molten metal as it was struck, it's body spasming like mad. The sparks then turned into a flash as Mei lowered her arm, the ball turning into a beam of energy that blew through the Beast, and a good number of the buildings around the area as well, Soleil being blown back again by the shockwave of the impact.

"Gagh!" He yelped as he hit the ground and rolled, an eye closed as he got to a knee, staring at the rising pillar of light that, if anything were close enough, would see for miles without a doubt. "Dammit… she's even stronger than last time. This isn't good."

It didn't help that as Mei floated there, Beasts were starting to funnel in down the alley ways and roads, Soleil drawing his weapons as the things circled in, obviously drawn to the now active Herrscher floating in the sky above them.

"You're all fools." Mei said, turning and looking at Soleil. "Kiana, for getting so injured while protecting that coward of a girl, and you for being so slow… as if I would let both of you die so easily to something like that. I still have a score to settle with you both… now, Kiana, wake the hell up. The only one allowed to kill you is me."

"This could only get worse." Soleil muttered, looking around at the Beasts edging closer and closer to him.

And almost as if it was in response to Soleil's griping, the roaring of massive engines boomed through the air. A massive airship that eclipsed the moon from it's sheer size as it came over the buildings… and it didn't take much for Soleil to know where exactly this ship had to be from due to the design alone.

"A Schicksal battleship." The boy murmured, his grip on his pendant tightening once more. "Is this lucky or not?"

If only the night could have gone so well…


	8. Chapter 8

Honkai Impact 3rd: Empyrean Reality

**Chapter 8: Savior**

"Well I think we're found what we're looking for."

"Is now really the time to be a smart ass?"

"Yeap."

"Fair."

Himeko gave way to Hisashi's smarmy comment as they beheld the massive beam of light shooting up from the city in their sights. The _Hyperion _wasn't far out from Nagazora now, and it was just as they were showing up that a sudden spike in Honaki Energy followed into the explosion they were viewing.

"Captain, we still have time to retreat!"

"And miss a chance like this? Not at all." Hisashi adjusted his hat as he stepped forward to the captain's position of the bridge throwing an arm out as the light began to die down. "We're going right into the fire! Move to the location of the energy spike, set _Hyperion _to level one alert! We just may have a Herrscher on our hands. Major?"

"Oh I'll be ready." Himeko said, giving a thumbs up, a confident smile on her face.

As _Hyperion _closed in, the operators chattering off various readings and other things all the while. And when they were above the impact zone, the sensors began catching the readings. The image view showing the swarms of Honkai Beasts on the streets, all heading to the same point. And soon enough, what they were looking for came into view, Mei, the Herrscher looking up as the ship came in clearly.

"She's just a kid." Hisashi muttered.

"Yeah it's cruel and all. But that's what we get from a Herrscher?" Himeko said, looking unimpressed. "I was hoping for something… freakier! You know, like with tentacles or spikes and stuff. A monster! Not some girl looking at us like we're scum."

"You have a really active imagination don't you?" Hisashi sighed, his eyes going wide when he also spotted Kiana in Mei's arms. "What the… why is she holding a person? Operators, scan around and see if anyone else is in the area! And while you're at it, arm all the turrets and lay some fire down on those Beasts!"

* * *

"That's not good."

Soleil started to edge back as the _Hyperion's _gun bays opened, each one, from rotary cannons to rail guns, took aim at the zone around Mei, who was glaring at the ship with nothing but disdain in her eyes.

"Annoying insects… who dares look down on me from above!" With a yell, Mei let loose lightning from all around her, Soleil diving into the closest alleyway as it turned into a wave of power that swept away anything in it's path.

"Disappear!" Mei lifted a hand, focusing all the awash energy and letting it loose at once as a gathered stream.

It slammed right into the _Hyperion's _hull. It stopped for a moment as the raised shields held, but only for a moment. The blast carried right through and burst through the top of the ship, arcing into the air. When it faded, while the massive ship was intact and still in the air, a massive hole had been blown through its hull, left scorched and burning while sparks of electricity arced through it.

* * *

"Warning! Warning! External armor damage critical! Output down 40%! Please return immediately!"

"Not happening Ai! Seal bulkheads and contain any spreading damage! Suppress those fires!" Hisashi yelled above the blaring sirens started by the onboard ship AI, clicking his tongue. "Well that's just great… we won't be able to take another hit like that."

"Doesn't that kid know how much it's gonna cost to repair this ship!?" Himeko muttered, then turning around. "Captain, I'm heading out! All of you, open nuclear furnaces five and six. Maintain the output and keep _Hyperion's _power in backup mode. Lower _Hyperion _to the Herrscher's height in two minutes. I'm heading out!"

"Hold on there! You're planning on using that aren't you?" Hisashi followed after Himeko as she left the bridge, the man giving a wave to the lieutenant to give her to go ahead to take command. "You know the Nexus System still isn't stable."

"Well we don't have much of a way out, do we?" Himeko said, already hitting the switches on the elevator.

"I'm just saying there's other methods."

"After a hit like that? Better to just go out swinging with our best then wait for her to hit us like that again I'd say."

"You're not wrong. Just stupid." Hisashi also checked an opened holo window as his wrist device went off. "Plus, we just got orders from home base. They want the Herrscher alive. A full blast from the Nexus System won't really leave much if it hits right."

"Too late for that. Unless the heads back home thought of some way to contain the thing…"

"The other problem is that the Headmasters daughter is the girl we saw. That was just confirmed too."

"… shit. It _was _her?" Himeko let out a mutter as the elevator opened, striding out into the equipment strewn bay before them, then giving a chuckle as she pulled off her jacket. "Well now I just wanna get out there more. That little brat was a pain in my ass before her old man took her on that "trip" of theirs. Besides, I'm a woman who sees things through, you know that. And now on top of dealing with a Herrscher, I've gotta save somebody."

"You're really using it huh?" Hishashi lowered his hat to shield his vision as Himeko kept pulling off more clothes, then giving a chuckle. "Well, not like I can stop you. Just don't go too hard out of the gate."

"Oh don't worry, it'll be fine. Oh, and hold onto these. They're my luck set." Himeko snickered as she tossed the rather risqué panties she'd had to Hisashi, the man groaning as she sneered at him. "You better get me something good once we're back home!"

"Yeah yeah! Just get out there already! If you take too long then I'll be going out myself!"

Hisashi went back to the elevator as the alert began sounding for _Hyperion _to go into standby mode and begin lowering, giving a two fingered salute as the door shut, a gesture Himeko returned as she strode further down the path, machinery already moving as she stopped on a squared off panel.

Operating quickly, the extending arms and binders got to work, arming Himeko up in a red undersuit and armor to match it. The bulk of the armor kept to her upper areas, the arms and chest being totally covered while the rest of the body was less so, a visor covering Himeko's eyes and starting to run with information as things locked into place. A chord connecting to the armor, and another arm pulled out a massive mechanical sword, Himeko gripping it tightly as the hatch above her opened, revealing the night sky above.

"Alright Herrscher girl, let the Ace of Hyperion show you what she's got."

* * *

"Shit shit shit! I can't get up here now! That ship lowered and Mei went above it, now I can't see a damn thing!"

Soleil growled as he looked out from his hiding place, growling as he could already see the arcs of energy starting to fly from above the _Hyperion, _but past any reach of his.

"What the hell can I do?!"

"If you want, there is a way to help out with that."

"Sozo?!"

Soleil gasped as the world came to a halt around him again. When he turned, he saw the being sitting atop some of the rubble around him, though the person the deity had taken the shape of seemed unfamiliar. A young girl with a remarkably similar resemblance to him, dressed in a mainly blue and white outfit, and before Sozo's usual bright blue features, dark blue hair, with eyes the same color as his.

"Seele…" Soleil muttered the name and caught himself, a confused look coming to his features.

"Ah so _that's _who I look like now hmm?" Sozo mused, rolling the fingers of a hand. "I'm never really quite sure how I appear to those who I visit. It always seems to change at times. I'm sure you want to know who Seele is, but, don't worry Soleil, the time will come when you two meet… well, technically you already have. But, let's keep our eyes on the now why don't we?"

"Yeah… tell me then, what can I do?" Soleil said, Sozo striding over and then grabbing his pendant.

"This right here. It's called the Key of Possibility after all."

"I haven't been able to make it respond since that fight." Soleil firmly said, pulling the item off.

"Well of course not. As you are now the Key will only respond when you need it. It's power is too great for you to use for long right now… but, there is a power sleeping within you that it can help you use, if only for a little bit." Sozo turned again, Soleil staring at the pendant as the being looked up to the frozen battle above them.

"Another power? What do you mean?"

"Just as I said. As Honkai has their Herrschers, I to have my chosen agents." When Sozo turned again, their form changed, now appearing as Kiana. "But it is a power that will allow you to prevent things from getting worse in the now. It won't be for long, but, it will be the kind of boost you need."

"Then I don't need to hear anything else. What do I need to do?" As he asked that, Soleil saw the pendant glow in his hand. When he opened his fingers, he saw that the shape had changed. While the crown of fire remained, it had become smaller, and now extending from it was the shaft and prongs of a key in the shape of a blade. "Getting kind of literal with the "key" thing here are we?"

"I will warn you though." Sozo put a hand to Soleil's as he gripped the key. "This will open the door to you remembering more about the world before this one. The minor flashes you've seen won't quite be so uncommon. And with it, you'll also likely remember all the pain of that time as well."

"So? I can deal with that much. I said I'd protect them. So I'll do just that, no matter what." Soleil said, Sozo giving a nod.

"Not that I expected anything less. Alright then. Use that, and take the first step into awakening, Soleil Empyrean… rise up, remaining the human you are… become a Heiland!"

Sozo faded away, and as time began to resume it's motions, Soleil held the changed pendant out. Swirls of sky blue began rising around him, a center of it at his chest. Steeling his gaze, Soleil turned the key around and drove it into the gleaming circle, flinching as he felt a sudden heat wash over him.

The threads of light then grew as they swirled around Soleil as he pulled the key away, the item transforming into its sword form as he did. As his eyes opened, it revealed that Soleil's pupils had taken on a cross shape. And some of the energy had gathered at the right of his back, swirling into form until turning into the rough shape of a wing.

As blasts collided above on the deck of the ship, Soleil looked up, gripping his sword tightly as he shifted his feet.

"Alright… let's go!"

* * *

"Captain, a new reading just appeared on the radar!"

"What?!" Hisashi leaned on the rail in front of him, everyone then flinching as the blast from Mei collided with Himeko, the cameras on the deck almost losing vision of what happened as her sword stopped it while power ran so hot it made the cable connected to her armor go white.

The beam of power from Mei split off at the contact point, washing out across the area and blasting through the tops of any buildings in the way of it. And then a bolt of blue suddenly shot up from the ground, crashing into the beam of energy, stopping it dead before completely dispersing it.

"What in the… get the sensors back online! What was that?!" Hisashi growled as the cameras went down, the crew already on trying to get things booted back up. "Come on… Himeko you better be okay out there…"

"Visuals coming back online now Captain. Wait… that new reading… why is it negative?!"

"It's the same kind of signature that was detected several days ago! But it's even stronger!"

"Is it because of the Herrscher?" Hisashi narrowed his eyes as the cameras came back online, letting out a sigh of relief when he saw Himeko still standing amid the smoke… and then he caught sight of the blue glow amid the smoke. "What the… who's that kid?!"

* * *

"What in the… who the hell are you?!"

Himeko was just as surprised as the _Hyperion _crew at Soleil's appearance, the boy letting out a breath as he turned, Himeko gasping a bit.

"Sorry about that. You're a Valkyrie yeah?" Soleil got a nod, then turning back to Mei. "Those girls up there are my friends. So, if you don't mind, wanna help me knock some sense into one of them?"

"The Lynchpin… and look at you! Drawing out some more of that disgusting light to fight me." Mei let out a huff, but also looking a bit annoyed. "A Heiland… ones like you rarely appear. But, if you are to fight me, then I'd quite like to kill you like this! Once I'm done with you, I can tend to Kiana's wounds so I can kill her properly."

"Okay, I don't know what this whole Heiland thing is or who you are, but you're obviously not with her… sort of." Himeko took a stance with her sword, Soleil taking his own. "But sure kid, I'll help you out. Besides, I've got orders to save that silver haired girl. And like that your friend there clearly isn't in the mood to play nice."

"Yeah she's a bit of a handful when she gets like this." Soleil said, a musingly bitter tone to the sarcastic remark.

"Now, turn to ash!" Mei gathered lightning again and let it loose, aiming for Soleil with the blast.

Soleil swung his sword in response, the wave of energy that followed clashing with the lightning, catching it and dispersing the blast. Soleil shot forward when the opening was made, shooting into the air and right for Mei. As his sword came down, the Herrscher formed a blade of lightning to respond. The weapons clashed, but Mei's hold on Kiana meant if she was going to use finer moves, she was somewhat out of luck as Soleil forced the blade aside. He reached out with his free hand, the Herrscher avoiding it.

"Don't think I'll let you touch me! In that state, I know exactly what you'll do!" Mei's wing lashed as Soleil went past, batting him and sending him flying backwards.

"You're open!" Himeko reared her sword around as energy charged along it, the woman giving a yell as she swung, a blast following the swing and rushing at Mei, who countered it with her own blast as a result.

"_Warning, warning! Fusion reactor overheated! 10 seconds before forced shutdown!"_

"Do not shut down!" Himeko shouted. "Where'd the kid get sent to anyway?!"

"Right here!" Soleil then came back down, dropping from a circle that formed in the air, Mei growling as she raised a hand, Soleil's sword slamming into the lightning barrier, streams of blue mixing with the lightning and lashing across the rest of the area, Himeko moving out of the way as some lashed the deck.

"Careful kid, this ship is expensive, so don't wreck it more!"

"Trying not to! I just need an opening!" Soleil said, getting knocked away, his own wing moving and acting as a shield when Mei blasted him.

"I've got a few seconds left, so I'll make you one!" Himeko shifted her stance, raising her sword again. "Sorry Hisashi, but this is gonna be big! I'm relying on this kid to make up for me being reckless!"

The energy charging from Himeko's blade caused the edge to open up and make the energy burst out of it. As Mei was fending off Soleil again, who was attacking from a range with his own blasts of energy, Himeko swung as hard as she could. The blast that followed loosed in a wave, not on the same level as the blast Himeko had stopped, but enough.

Mei turned to the rushing wave and pulled her hand up, stopping it dead with a barrier and then casting it away… and it made the exact opening that Soleil needed. He appeared from another circle once more, Mei looking up as he came down at her, too close to quickly be blocked. He went past, slamming his open hand down onto Mei's wing, sparks flying from his arm as threads of light flew from the contact point.

"Hah! What did you think that would do?! You may have the power of a Heiland with you now but you're obviously still weak! You can't hope to break a Wing of God on your own!" Mei said, her look shifting when Soleil smirked.

"Well then, good thing I'm not."

"Give… her… back." Kiana weakly spoke as she managed to grab Mei's left arm, the Herrscher looking annoyed as Kiana put her hand to the wing as well.

"Oh please. The Heiland I understand, but you? You're just a human, what could you possibly…" But, the Herrscher's smug aura ceased when she saw cracks beginning to form in the wing, Kiana's hand bleeding a bit as she gripped down. "What?!"

"Just shut up and go back to sleep for a bit will you?!" Soleil snapped, swiping his hand, shearing away part of the wing. "You're giving her back right now, got it?!"

"Give us back… our Mei! You darn faker!" Kiana mustered all the strength she could and pulled herself, the rest of the wing scattering with her motion.

"D-Dammit! Twice! I've lost to you two twice! Don't… expect me to be forgiving… when I come back!"

But, Mei's consciousness was already slipping as the Herrscher finally faded back down. Soleil hooked his sword to his hip, grabbing both girls and floating down onto the deck of the ship, giving a sigh of relief as he set them down.

"Well? How are they?" Himeko moved her visor up, setting her sword tip down and leaning on it. _"Damn this hurts already…"_

"Well… a mixed bag." Soleil said. "Kiana took a hit from a Honkai Beast and needs care, Mei will probably wake up soon… Bronya, shit, I need to find her."

"There's _another _one with you? Sheesh, the hell did you kids get up to?"

"It's uh, a long story." Soleil said, the aura around him and his wing fading, and he stumbled as he tried to move, his sword also reverting back to the pendant, though it remained a key. "Ah you've gotta be kidding me. Just my… rotten luck."

"Hey kid!" As Himeko stepped forward, Soleil had already fallen back first onto the deck. The heavier parts of Himeko's arm shed off as she rushed over, even as she was wincing from her own body wide pain. "Oh, good, he just passed out too."

"_Himeko! Everything alright out there?" _Hisashi's voice buzzed over the comm, Himeko chuckling as she stood up.

"Everything's fine. Now, get out here and help me haul these kids inside. One of them is wounded and two are passed out, and I ain't carrying them all on my own!"

"_Yeah yeah. We'll get the medical crew out there to get them in here. What about the Herrscher kid? We putting her in the brig to be safe?"_

"I dunno, I don't think she'll wake up. But, sure, just to be safe. And the boy? He did some pretty wild stuff back there."

"_We'll leave him in the infirmary… with some cuffs to be safe. Whatever he was doing, all of our Honkai scanners were tripping negative… I don't know who he is, but whatever he can do… well, freaky is the best word I've got for it."_

"A power that makes energy readings go negative huh?" Himeko looked down at Soleil and gave a hum, thinking of how the powers he'd displayed effected the Herrscher, and even her attacks as well. "You're right, pretty freaky… but crazy useful to have. Well, let's hope there's _something _about this kid in the public records."

* * *

Soleil let out a groan as he finally felt himself coming back to consciousness. Only to have his drowsiness immediately snap away as he saw where he was. Sitting upright, he was clearly in an infirmary room. Sterling white with various medical instruments around. A bench to one wall likely where visitors could sit, another chair at the end of the surprisingly comfortable bed. And the window to his right definitely looked out somewhere, but at this angle he couldn't see where exactly that was.

He was still in his clothes, but any of the gear he'd had for combat was gone with no sign of it's presence anywhere… though at least his pendant was back around his neck where it belonged.

"Okay… first things first. Find out where I am, them find the others." But as he moved his arm to shift the blanket, a clank drew his eye. Attached to his wrist and then to the bed were a pair of handcuffs, the wire connector going a bit taught as he yanked it forward. "The shit?"

And then he remembered. The battle at Nagazora, and the arrival of that Schicksal battleship. As he realized the situation, Soleil gave a sigh and flopped down onto the bed, putting an arm over his eyes.

"I get it now. After I passed out, that Valkyrie lady probably got her crew to collect us… which means now we're all under Schicksal's custody no doubt." Soleil sighed as he shifted his arm, closing his eyes and giving a thought out. "I wonder what dad is up to… probably better off than I am right now."

Figuring that it was no time to lay around, since he had no idea what would be done to Mei since she was a Herrscher, and Kiana was at least safe since she was a Valkyrie trainee, he got off the bed and ducked to it's side. He started jimmying with the handcuffs, grumbling when he saw they were electronically locked. So that put out potentially just breaking their locks.

"If I can find a way to break the wire…"

_Beep._

But when they suddenly went undone, clattering to the floor, Soleil stopped for a moment. Shrugging it off, Soleil got up, but stopped dead the moment he got across the room, the air around him rapidly moving as a fist stopped dead in front of his nose.

"Wow, you've got good instincts kid. I didn't even hint at anything, but you stopped even before I pulled my punch. Then again, I wouldn't expecting anything less from the Dragonslayer's kid." Hisashi lowered his arm as Soleil narrowed his eyes at him, the man putting his arms up. "Relax, Empyrean. I'm not gonna hurt you. Well, okay that was more me just testing you."

"Where am I?" Soleil got right to the point, Hisashi chuckling at the sheer bluntness in the statement.

"Not even gonna get to introductions eh? At least sit down and quit looking so suspicious." Hisashi sighed as Soleil didn't comply to that, shrugging then going to the window, gesturing for Soleil to follow. "As for where you are, you're at St. Freya Academy, the home base of Schicksal's Far East Branch. Considering one of ours was with you, I'm sure you at least have an idea of what this place is."

"A school for training Valkyries." Soleil said, going to the window and looking out.

The stretch before him had to be most of the school grounds. The building they were likely in gave a surprisingly direct view, Soleil opening the window and taking a better look. All in all, a grounds set up that was near all identical to your high end campus district. Patches of green strewn among sterling white walkways and structures, the various buildings off at different ends, and dominating it all, a central building consisting of multiple spires and of its own grand white. It looked just like a church, but likely served a much different purpose in its presence.

"And if I'm at St. Freya, then that also means I'm at Soukai City… shit, the last place I wanted to be." Soleil stepped back from the window and clicked his tongue, Hisashi giving a chuckle.

"Well I guess fourteen years abroad avoiding any contact with Schicksal would make you feel that way." Soleil shot the man a glare, Hisashi paying it no mind as he shut the window. "As for your friends, they're fine. Kaslana was in critical condition when we got her, but thankfully for her, her bloodline makes her sturdy. She's still sleeping right now, but she'll probably be up and moving like nothing happened in a couple more days. As for the Raiden girl, I wouldn't be so worried. Hime… _ahem, _Major Murata had a chat with her. She's fine, hell, even agreed to start attending this school."

"There was another one." Soleil flatly said.

"Ah yeah the little Russian girl. She's fine too. Found her stowed away on our ship after we got back. She's probably with Raiden. Now, as for _you." _Hisashi then sat down on the bed, pulling up a data chip and opening it, showing that the image on it was a file of data on Soleil himself, the boy flinching a bit. "Before that though, allow me to introduce myself. I'm Kobayashi Hisashi, a Captain here at Schicksal who heads the _Hyperion _battleship, the one that picked you up at Nagazora. Pleasure to meet you, Soleil Empyrean."

"I can't exactly say it's a mutual feeling right now." Soleil said, folding his arms. "So what's the likely invasive personal file about hmm?"

"Just data that's we've been gathering about the incident and those directly involved. We don't need to for Kaslana, much, but as for you and the Raiden girl, well… let me just rattle off what we have in our own database." Hisashi cleared his throat, and Soleil just kept giving him that suspicious eye. "Soleil Empyrean, born on February 3rd of 2002, father is Sigurd Empyrean, and your mother… that's actually unknown."

"Her name was Mayne Vollerei. She wasn't with Schicksal." Soleil said, an eye shut. "She died during the Second Impact. I never really knew her."

"Ah, well, I am sorry about that." Hisashi cleared his throat again. "As far as Schicksal's records go, you were under our care with your father up until the age of three… right when the Second Impact happened in 2005. After that, your father left Schicksal and took you with him. _That's _where the official records end, and where the speculation based on gathered data over the past fourteen years begins."

"I doubt any of it's accurate." Soleil said, giving a huff. "We used aliases when traveling around."

"True… but, it's hard to ignore stories about a man and boy going around fighting monsters. Just follow the pattern and it all comes together." Hisashi said, Soleil clicking his tongue. "The first occurrence we have was in 2014. Assumed alias at the time was Soleil Halburton, was attending school at an unknown elementary in Britain. Said to have been absent often due to business with his father. The second is 2016, alias Soleil Crossroad, attending middle school in Los Angeles, _also _absent due to business at times. And the newest and most accurate one, starting from last year in 2018. Alias, Soleil Seiei, attending Senba Boy's Highschool in Nagazora's Campus District, living on his own with no sign of a parent around while living off campus. Mysteriously involved in an incident with a strange animal that appeared on campus and injured multiple students. The security cameras were oddly out, yet the student was found having somehow dealt with the strange animal. And due to a lack of known relatives, the authorities let the case slide."

"Ngh." Soleil's mutter more than confirmed that despite the information itself showing low accuracy ratings for confirmation, aside from the Senba case, that the data was right on the mark.

"I assume that when the outbreak happened and things went south, you dropped the alias as there wasn't a need for it." Hiashi shut the data chip and stowed it in his jacket. "At the least you can say you and your old man were a _lot _more cautious than Kaslana and her dad. Those two didn't even bother with aliases, so keeping track of them was relatively easy. But on topic, aside from this there's _also _everything you did back in Nagazora. Records do say the Empyrean's have a unique power against Honkai Energy, but this is the first time I've seen any hint of it for myself."

"That's complex." Solei said, giving a sigh. "So, what do you want with me then huh? Gonna ask me to join you guys too?"

"Pretty much yeah." Hisashi stood up, Soleil flinching again. "Again, Kaslana is one of ours anyway, and your other friend agreed to join us so we could help her as well. And I can only assume the Zaychik girl will as well. Which just leaves you. I suppose there is a few ways I can see it going. You have only known them for a few days, so I wouldn't be surprised if you're not that attached… but after what you went through with those girls, I highly doubt that's the case."

"And what would I get out of joining Schicksal huh? My dad left you guys because he doesn't trust the Overseer. I don't know why but I sure as hell trust him more than someone who works under that guy. They're my friends, yes… and I promised I'd protect them but… you can't seriously just expect me to turn over and become a lapdog for Schicksal do you?!"

"You won't be." Hisashi's look was stern as Soleil snapped at him, the boy giving him a cautious look. "St. Freya Academy was established fourteen years ago by Cecilia Schariac and Theresa Apocalypse, not just to train Valkyries, but also to have a branch that operates just under the Overseer's jurisdiction. In the wake of the Second Impact they realized there needed to be a better way to train Valkyries and prepare them for what they would do. And so we have this place. If you're here, I promise you won't be operating with the other branches outside of combat events. The Far East Branch has their own rules and ways of operating, against the norm of the other Schicksal Groups… wouldn't be the first time a branch had a problem with the Overseer."

"Anti-Entropy." Soleil said, Hisashi nodding. "It used to be Schicksal's North American Branch but broke off decades ago due to the heads not agreeing on how to operate. And since then the organization has been Schicksal's main competitor in anti-Honkai technology and threat control. North America is almost untouchable for Schicksal because of them."

"Bingo. I'm not gonna go and pressure you. Give it a couple of days of thought. I'll see what you say once you and your friends are all together again. You're free to wander around if you want to, just try and stay low during class hours though. There's not a lot of guys here, so some of the girls get antsy when a new one shows up."

"Funny." Soleil sighed as Hisashi left while laughing. He went back to the window and looked at the sprawl of St. Freya once more, giving another sigh. "It may be for the best… I'll wait until Kiana is awake before I decide though."


	9. Chapter 9

Honkai Impact 3rd: Empyrean Reality

**Chapter 9: A New Path**

Soleil didn't quite know how to express was he was feeling at the moment. He knew he'd since drifted off into sleep some time ago… but something was off. When he _had _woken up, it wasn't at the infirmary room in St. Freya he'd spent two days in now… rather, it was the interior of some kind of transport. But even weirder, as his body moved, his eyes scanned around, he _wasn't _doing it.

He was aware of things, yet neither was he in control, as if he was viewing things through the eyes of another, somehow.

"_Attention. We're nearing the LZ. Looks like we may be going in hot. MANTIS soldiers, get ready to initiate combat as soon as we arrive."_

"MANTIS? The hell are those?" Soleil spoke himself, and while he _did _hear his remark, again he felt that weird sensation of separation as his body shifted. In his hand though, was that ever familiar pendant of his. He was rolling it through his fingers, brushing along the body and teeth of the key-shaped item as the scenery outside of the transport whizzed by.

"***'s calculations may be accurate, but not even someone like her can predict everything." It was his voice, but it wasn't something Soleil himself had deemed to say. And whoever the same voiced person had referred to, their name had come out garbled.

"Ah… now I get it."

That was when it clicked. He was inside of a memory, likely one encoded into his Stigmata. As the things were an encoding of genetic data, that also came with memories. And the Empyrean Stigmata was an old one, at least on the level of the Kaslanas in age. There was bound to be _something _buried in there. And from the looks of it, perhaps this was a memory of the Old Civilization.

"So… does that mean this is my ancestor?" Soleil wished he had actual control, but in the back of his mind he decided just letting this play out was for the best… at least, he _was. _Until his vision shifted to the window, and he saw _his face _staring back at him.

But, there was a core difference. The hairstyle was, mostly, the same, but far more tussled, like he hadn't properly been able to take care of himself for ages. His eyes had dark, heavy circles under them clearly from a following lack of sleep… and they were also so dull in look Soleil questioned if they were even the eyes of a living person.

It wasn't the face of a person who had seen hell, but of someone who was still living through it.

"Soleil! You could bother to do more than just stare out of the window you know?"

His name was called, and his head turned. To the present Soleil's surprise however, while he knew what was being said, the speaker's voice was garbled in tone. And so was their face. He could at least tell it was a young woman, one with vibrant pink hair that fell in a messy curtain down to her waist. It stood out quite a bit against her black, blue accented attire.

"******, it's easier if I stay here and watch." The memory version of him spoke, his voice tired in tone and dragging along. "Besides, at least let me take in what parts of what's left look fine."

"You can save that for when we get home. At least once we're done here it'll be a chance to sleep. How's your sister, by the way?"

"I could ask the same of yours. She must be lonely all on her own back in Japan." There was at least a bit of brevity to the tired young man's voice now, his female companion chuckling as she sat down next to him. Soleil just mulled to himself at the scene. At least his ancestor had a friend and wasn't some brooding loner. "But, my sister's fine. She's still adjusting to the communal living space ever since the city went tight. Though who isn't?"

"I hear you. ** ***, what about you, any thoughts?" The pink-haired young woman turned the other way to a third.

They didn't get much of a response though. Another young woman, with silver hair kept in a low tail. Like the other girl her face was garbled and her name was impossible to decipher. But, Soleil took note of the black and gold gauntlets on her arms. Something about those weapons felt familiar.

"Both of you just keep your focus on the mission. We'll have time to chatter once we're done." Was all the third one said, the pink-hair just giving a grumble.

"She's as little fun as ever hm?"

"Don't be so hard on her, ******, she's just been through the same hell we have is all." The other Soleil sat back against the wall of the transport, but it coming to a sudden stop prevented him from trying to at least get a little bit more rest. "Nevermind that idea… back to business. ******, ** ***, let's get this done."

As the three lined up at the door while the transport lowered, the memory ended just like that as the door opened. Soleil found himself standing on a path of blue light as soon as it did. He was finally able to move himself, and the space around him was dark, but not pitch black. More like a starless night sky, marked instead by streams of blue light flowing all around him.

"Is this what you meant by me seeing things from the past, eh Sozo?" Soleil folded his arms as he shut an eye, but not a reply came from the being in question. Not surprising for some reason. "Ugh, of course. You're always cryptic like that."

Then he caught himself. His wording was like someone intimately familiar with the personality of the source of his grumbling. And that was indeed the feeling about it Soleil had now. Something in him felt far closer to Sozo than beforehand… like an old sense of familiarity had come back.

It was the same exact feeling he'd had around Kiana, Mei, and Bronya… like he was with old friends.

"Can't I just have things be a bit normal?!"

* * *

"Ah geez… it's been three days but I still feel sore all over. Stings like a bitch!"

"Well that's what you get for going full blast with the Nexus System like you did. Be glad you didn't have to be _dragged _back into the ship and got off easy.""

"Peh."

Himeko clicked her tongue at Hisashi's dry tone. The two veterans were in the office wing of St. Freya, headed for the principal's office to file their finally finished report from the Nagazora incident. Of course it was more like Hisashi did all of the filing while Himeko complained about how much her body was sore. If there was one thing Himeko hated above many other things, it was paperwork when she was dealing with other things.

"Excuse us, Principal Cecilia. We're here with the Nagazora report." Hisashi opened the door to the office after knocking. The space was a nice and lavish one, large enough to have plenty of room to move around in and several bookshelves lining the walls, with two sofas across each other before the large desk. Which had the chair currently turned with its back to the two arrivals. "Principal?"

"Sorry to inform you both, but Cecilia left a while ago to check on Kiana. Instead, you can file the report with me! The best Vice Principal in the world!" The chair whipped around to reveal the speaker. A young woman who _appeared _to be at least eighteen years old, not that the two other adults knew better. White haired and blue eyes… the girl had all the looks of a Kaslana about her, hell one would be forgiven for perhaps thinking she was Kiana's sister from how similar the two looked. She was the Vice-Principal of the Academy as well as a powerful A-Rank-though perfectly viable for S-Rank-Valkyrie, Theresa Apocalypse.

"Why am I not surprised?" Himeko sighed, Hisashi putting a hand to his eyes.

"Oi! You two could at least play along a bit!" Theresa leaned up on the desk in objection, the stylized nun habit that was her attire fluttering a bit from her rapid movement.

"Vice-Principal, you stopped looking like a twelve-year-old years ago. _Maybe _act more like your age more often? The spin around bit is just lame." Hisashi spun a finger as he went to monotone, Theresa fuming at him.

"Just give me the report now!" Theresa snapped, Hisashi throwing his arms up and pointing at Himeko.

"Just gimme a second." While snickering, Himeko undid a couple of her coats buttons, pulling out a data drive from between the valley of her breasts. Hisashi immediately brought a hand to his face as he groaned while Theresa showed an eye twitch.

"Why would you keep it in there?!" Theresa said, Himeko just twirling the drive.

"What? You said we were doing this in secret, so where better for me to keep it?" Himeko said, raising a brow when Hisashi gave her a flat stare. "What?"

"You _have _pockets."

"Honey do you see these shorts? These pockets don't hold a thing!"

"That thumb drive isn't that big."

"Well I know THIS pocket of mine is definitely big enough to hold anything."

"Will you two quit flirting and just hand me the drive already?!" Theresa snapped again as the other two got off into their own bit, with Hisashi looking about ready to outright punch Himeko as she propped her chest up. At the seemingly young woman's snapping though, Himeko handed the drive over. "Thank you. First off, tell me exactly what happened on that night."

"Well it's kind of a simple story really. Not like you _don't _know the finer details." Hisashi said. "We got the word in from the UN about Nagazora going silent, and when we checked it out, lo and behold we found a Herrscher amid it all. A fight where _this _idiot overclocked the Nexus System happened, and we also found out the Principal's kid was involved here… plus the Empyrean kid and his even weirder powers."

"And somehow the kid and Kiana were able to stop the Herrscher. Snapped her right back to her normal personality to boot." Himeko said.

"I see. Kiana's file is fine… at least this tells us where Siegfried was taking her for the past three years." Theresa hummed as she opened the data drive and scanned the file on Kiana that opened first. "But of course she got in all kinds of trouble… it was her who was at that weird case at Senba earlier this year."

"See now that's a thing that's been puzzling me now though." Himeko took a seat on one of the sofas, Hisashi following suit. "I get she's the daughter of a former S-Rank Valkyrie and a man on par with if not _stronger _than her, but all of our research shows human bodies can't handle high concentrations of Honkai energy. How was she able to so much as touch the Herrschers wing back there?"

"Because Kiana's also a Schariac, duh." Theresa noted. "Kaslanas have a naturally high resistance of course, but the Schariacs are practically immune. Something in their blood acts like a counteractive to Honkai Energy, just like the powers the Empyreans have. Kiana pulled off _that _stupid stunt thanks to the powers she got from her mom."

"Then there's Empyrean. What the hell is his case? All the readings we got from him were all negative. He can obviously fight the Honkai without problems, but just what the hell is _his _case that it does that?" Hisashi said, Theresa leaning on a hand as she flipped the file over. Which led her to Mei's next.

"Whoa, so that's who our Herrscher is!" Theresa becoming keener on _that _rather than Hisashi's immediate question got the man to stare flatly at her. "The heiress of the ME Corp… lost her mother to illness when she was young, and then the whole mess with her father… yeesh, no wonder she was a prime candidate to turn… actually, hold on, isn't a girl like her becoming a Herrscher almost _too _convenient?"

"There's something about that actually." Hisashi noted. "He hasn't shown me, but that Empyrean kid has some files he swiped from one of the company's facilities. Whatever's in them may have something to do with that but, well, the kid doesn't exactly trust me. He's refused to actually let me _see _the files. He has them on his phone, and he has the thing pretty tightly locked to boot."

"Plus the thing with ME Corp as a whole. Who'd have thought our sworn enemy Anti-Entropy was their backer?" Himeko folded her arms as she chimed in, Hisashi and Theresa nodding. "It's also pretty odd they didn't jump in when Ryoma's daughter turned Herrscher all of a sudden. I asked our girls at the intelligence division to dig further into them and see what they find out."

"Now as for the elephant in the room." Hisashi said, Theresa flicking over to Soleil's file. "I'll ask again, what's that kid's case? I know his dad used to work with Schicksal… at least until the end of the 2nd Impact fourteen years ago."

"In that regard I really only know about as much as you do." Theresa, however, also gave a huff. "Geez Sigurd… still, least the little boy grew up nicely… but if he grew up around _that _delinquent, I doubt he's much better."

"Eh?"

"Ahem." Theresa cleared her throat as Hisashi and Himeko gave her a look. "As you _should _know, the Empyreans were one of the founding clans of Schicksal alongside the Apocalypse, Schariac, and Kaslana. Like the Kaslana they were renowned knights who fought against the Honkai even long before Schicksals formal founding. And the rest is basically history. Still, I'm almost surprised he's shown up. Sigurd's done a terrifyingly good job of covering his tracks these past fourteen years, yet _now _we find Soleil caught up in an Impact level outbreak… I can't tell if he's unfortunate or unbelievably lucky."

"Maybe it's some weird combination of both." Hisashi mused, Theresa shrugging as she closed the data chip.

"Was there any other survivors beyond these three?" Theresa said, Hisashi nodding.

"Yeah, one another. Not that we have any data on her though. Little girl with silver hair, name's Bronya Zaychik. We found her stowed away in _Hyperion's _cargo bay a day after we got back." Hisashi said, his face looking a bit irked. "She's an odd one for sure. Another case of some weird powers, plus she can get past our security systems… but, as it is, looks like she's not a troublemaker. If we just keep her around the others she'll probably comply."

"I mean it's still concerning not knowing where that little girl is even from. She has powers but she's obviously not one of ours. AE maybe?" Himeko suggested, Hisashi shrugging.

"It's entirely possible. But she seems pretty attached to Empyrean and Raiden, so we're probably safe."

"Well then if that's all, I'll be sure to tell Cecilia about this later. You two can go and carry on. Actually, did Soleil decide on joining us or not?" Theresa looked to Hisashi as the man and Himeko stood. The captain put a hand behind his head as he sighed, which was enough of an answer more than anything. "Stubborn too. Yeah, definitely like his dad."

"He's clearly been wracking his brain about it." Hisashi added. "But, I can tell there's a part of him that feels like he can't trust Schicksal as a whole. It's not really us, it's who else he'd have to find himself working with."

"Well there was a reason Sigurd left after all." Theresa sighed again, then perking up when Hisashi chuckled as he adjusted his hat. "I know that look. You've got some nasty idea don't you?"

"Of course he does." Himeko had an amused look on, the devilish smirk on Hisashi's face telling plenty.

"It's not too bad. I just think I know a way to give the kid a little bit of extra perspective about things is all. I'm gonna go have another chat with him… one that's a bit more communicative than just words."

"Hah. Well then I'll grab a med kit on the way to be safe."

As Hisashi voiced his objection while following Himeko out, Theresa shook her head with an amused sigh. Theresa pressed a button on the desk's console after a small alert light went off. An image appeared of it, from the Nagazora search that was going on now that the situation was mostly under control, leaving the cleanup of the city to the rest of it.

"Huh? What's this?" Theresa raised an eye as the image shifted to something… a figure moving amid the ruins, a girl with pink hair and a sword. "… ugh, we're going to be busy with this one for a while aren't we?"

* * *

After his little experience before waking up, Soleil had spent most of the morning the way he had for the past three days… cooped up in the infirmary room and not doing much else. He'd had all that time to more finely comb the files he'd taken from the ME Corp facility and dedicate most of the finer details to memory, especially that Project Mei aspect. But he'd also taken the liberty to get his hands on a few other things to read up on: files from the Schicksal database within St. Freya.

It had been a rather simple process for him really. He just found the nearest computer terminal in the library where he could shove himself away, and spent a few hours working past the lower level clearance that wouldn't take as long to get through. He didn't want to risk trying to tap the higher clearance files so he only went as deep as the information restricted to B-Rank Valkyries for the time being. It was, for the most part, just pretty basic information. Schicksal's history, records of the previous two Impact disasters, various miscellaneous information about equipment and other things.

"If I had more time I could bust into the A-Rank clearance… but that's still too risky." Soleil sighed as he flicked one of the holographic windows.

"_You actually got in?" _The blue butterfly then appeared out of nowhere, Soleil shrugging as it landed on his shoulder.

"I have my fair share of hacking experience. Thankfully AE and Schicksal have pretty similar base systems so it's not too hard to make a program to link to either on the fly. Hacking can be pretty boring though. A lot of time writing scripts and trying to pass firewalls. Movies are pretty unrealistic in how it actually works." Soleil flicked through a few more windows as he started typing on a holo-keyboard as well.

"_Wow, you're actually really impressive! I think I only know one other person who's that good at this kind of thing."_

"And who would that be?"

"_Someone… nearby. It's not too big of a deal right now. And… what about what that man said? Are you going to stay here or not?"_

"I don't really know. It's more that I don't trust Schicksal as a whole, even if that captain guy says St. Freya works more separately… we'll still be under the eyes of Otto, and that's a person I know I can't trust." Soleil folded his arms as he sighed. The butterfly flitted up and then landed on his head, her wings lifting up.

"_I think it'll be fine. Besides, I'd think they'd be lonely if you left."_

"That's the thing… I don't wanna leave but I also don't wanna put myself in a situation where I have to answer to that guy… I'm still waiting for Kiana to be awake though." Soleil flicked one of the windows shut. As he turned to another, the door sliding open drew his eye, the butterfly vanishing in the same instant.

"Well now, I was wondering what you've been up to for a while." Hisashi entered the room with an amused look on as Soleil hastily shut the windows and nabbed his phone. "We got a ping about something that bugged our systems for a bit the other day, but the trace vanished before we could pin it down but now I wonder. You've gotta be a pretty damn smart kid if you know how to get past even our lower level firewalls and barely get noticed."

"And just what're you here for now eh?" Soleil remarked, his look flat. "Last time we talked you weren't exactly what I would call the most convincing person around in trying to tell me why I should stick around this place."

"Oh, I know. Obviously I gotta do more than just try and buy you off by saying you can stay with your friends and won't have Overseer Otto breathing down your neck." Hisashi folded his arms as he strode in further, and Soleil felt his warning sense go off as he saw the glint in the man's eyes. "So I thought of another idea to convince you. Why not come with me for a bit? There's a place I wanna take you to."

"How about first off you tell me where Mei is. You said Kiana's in the other wing, but where is she?"

"Don't worry, Raiden is perfectly fine." Hisashi threw up his arms as Soleil glared at him. "There was a bit of a… problem when Hime-ahem, when major Murata had a chat with her. If it helps your thoughts, she also agreed to stay here. We plan to help her learn to control the powers she has, and to find a way to prevent her Herrscher side from taking full control again… though we had to put a bit of a countermeasure in place."

"What did you do?" Soleil's aura became outright deadly as he stared Hisashi down, the man giving a sigh as the teenager's expression went cold.

"First off, it's something she agreed to herself… we put a bomb next to her heart. A small one, with a timed trigger that would only go off within five minutes after it's sensors detect a Honkai reading above a certain level within her."

"YOU WHAT?!" Soleil shot from the bed and grabbed Hiashi by the man's jacket, though it didn't make his look change at all. "If you're trying to convince me, telling me you shoved a _bomb _inside my friend's chest isn't the way to do it!"

"Then what other method do you propose? That we just let you and Kaslana deal with it every time the Herrscher comes out?" Hisashi's tone was level and serious, Soleil giving a growl.

"We handled her before, we can do it again. I have the ways to handle it."

"Your Divine Key and that odd state you entered before, right?" Hisashi pried Soleil's hand free, and the boy winced when he started feeling the pressure on his arm become painful. "If it's so reliable, then show me the Key right now. If you have so much faith in it, then you should be able to use it's power whenever you want, right? We've got a few Divine Key users among our ranks, and they can use their Keys' powers as they need… can you do the same?"

"I… I can't." Hisashi released Soleil as a bitter growl came from the boy. "I'm not strong enough to use it normally yet. The thing only responds when I'm around powerful Honkai Sources… like a Herrscher."

"And thus that makes it unreliable, and not something you can count on." Hisashi pocketed his hands and turned, glancing back as the door opened. "Come on. I'm going to show you exactly what I mean when I saw I'm going to show you what I think I can convince you with."

"Wha… hey! Don't just start going at your own damn pace!"

"Can't help it. I always do that. You'll just have to follow me."

"Tch!"

* * *

Soleil was giving Hisashi a look while also looking around at where he'd been led to. A dojo, one in a rather classical Japanese style. Of course this was also connected to the athletics buildings on the campus. As for just why he'd been taken here, it just made Soleil feel on edge.

"So, what's this about? Giving me a tour or something?"

"Oh not at all. See, there's really only one reason a guy like me brings someone to this dojo." As he spoke, Hisashi pulled off his coat and overshirt, leaving himself in a fitted tank top as he threw the items aside and kicked off his shoes. He then got to wrapping up his forearms and hands, Soleil taking a wary stance as the man did. "I figured you're not the kind of person who's easy to convince by words alone. And I kinda suck at telling people why I think they should do things they might be against. I'm good at giving orders, but not advice. But what am I good at…"

And as Hisashi snapped the last of the wrappings he was putting on into place, he moved immediately. Soleil was able to reach in time despite the man's suddenly blinding speed, dodging the fist that came his way by a narrow margin. He also moved as quickly as he could, bringing his arms up to stop a kick that came from below and went right for his head.

"… is showing people just how strong they actually are."

"You're not just some XO, are you?" Soleil muttered, his arms throbbing from just how hard that kick was.

"To be more accurate that's just my current position." Hisashi stepped back with an easy move, lowering his leg and cracking his knuckles. "Years ago, I was just as active a combatant as anybody else. Worked with my fair share of Valkyrie squads after I got picked up by Schicksal. And just to say it, I suck at holding back. So don't do the same with me. Since you're a weapon user, grab whatever practice weapons stacked up over there. I'll give you a few seconds."

"Wait, the hell do you…" As Soleil responded, the air moved again. In the next instant, Hisashi's fist had stopped dead before his face, just brushing his nose. Yet, the force was enough Soleil's hair blew around him. The boy looked shocked as Hisashi stared him down.

"Let me make one thing clear kid. You got lucky back in Nagazora. The first time, the Herrscher was weak enough to be dealt with easier. In terms of power I'd say you and Kaslana right now would be a match for some of the lower A-Rankers we've got… but just barely. And then the second time, you not only got blindsided by an Emperor Class the few of you didn't have a chance in hell at beating, but had to pull out some wild power just so you had a chance against the Herrscher again. As you are now, you're way too weak to protect those girls if they find themselves in a situation where their own powers fail, and I'd say the same to the reverse… so, you wanna try and prove me wrong? If so, grab a weapon."

"Tch. Fine!" As Hisashi began counting down from five, Soleil rushed to the nearby racks on the wall. He was quick as he could be about it despite the man's slow count, and he grabbed the easiest weapon he felt he could use: A longsword.

Hisashi grinned a bit as Soleil chose not to waste time once he had a weapon, the boy immediately slashing at the man with blunt but heavy practice weapon. Soleil's quick but powerful slashes were met with Hisashi smoothly dodging them with minor movements. And when he passed another, tapping his hand off the blade, his other fist came right back and slammed Soleil right in the gut. Soleil coughed as the blow rattled through him, but he managed to keep his footing as he went skidding back, managing to come to a stop. Though the heavy blow had clearly winded him. Hisashi however, didn't let up, attacking immediately, Soleil barely dodging the flurry of punches and kicks that came his way.

And like when Soleil was attacking, the moment Hisashi found an opening, he slammed the teenager with a powerful blow. This time a kick than landed square on Soleil's open left side. Soleil managed to keep his footing again, but he winced as he came to a stop. This time though, when Hisashi attacked, he retaliated just as quickly. The sword came down where instinct told the boy the next blow was coming from. And in response to it, Hisashi's punch quickly shifted, the man catching the sword with his hand in a smooth motion.

"Well, I guess that's an Empyrean for you. Like the Kaslanas you guys are crazy… that practice sword weighs at least seven pounds but your swinging it like it's light as a feather with one hand. Not to mention taking two straight hits and barely showing any damage. You're tougher than you look, for a bean pole." Hisashi reacted surprisingly quickly despite seeming open from the remark he gave, as in the same instant he finished speaking he also stopped a kick Soleil attempted to throw, his own leg slamming into the boy's and sending him to the side, which also wrenched the sword out of his hand. "Props for taking what looked like an opening, but minus for letting yourself get disarmed."

"What, you testing me?!"

"Yes."

Hisashi tossed the sword back to Soleil, the boy catching the weapon and quickly getting his hand back on the grip. As Hisashi moved again, Soleil's gaze focused a bit. The man was still blindingly quick, but something carried Soleil this time. Both instinct and him having even just the _smallest _of ideas of where the man was going now. Rather than make an attack, Soleil moved to defend. A clang rang through the air as Hisashi's fist slammed into the flat of the weapon. The man let out a smirk as his own momentum meant he kept moving forward more than he wanted when Soleil moved his left hand away from the blade… and in that same extra moment, a knife had found it's tip pointed at Hisashi's throat. The knife that _before _had been on Hisashi's belt.

"You little… heh, you grabbed the thing when I disarmed you." Hisashi stepped back as Soleil lowered his weapons, the boy flipping the knife back and handing it to the captain. "Alright, you at least got yourself a point. You're a scrappy one ain't you?"

"Not like Honkai Beasts or zombies play fair." Soleil rolled his still throbbing arms as he said so, then popping his neck with a quick move. "I'm also pretty stubborn."

"Oh? Well then, let's see just how stubborn you are." Hisashi rolled his fingers as he took a stance again, Soleil following suit as he held his sword near his shoulder. "Just to warn you, I'm gonna start hitting faster. I may suck at holding back, but I don't like hurting kids."

"Heh, well then I'm damn well gonna try and hurt you!"

"Glad to hear it!"

* * *

And then three hours passed. Soleil was flat on the ground of the dojo, breathing heavily with an eye shut as he laid spread eagle. Multiple other weapons aside from the practice sword now littered the floor, ranging from a couple of spears, a quarterstaff, even a chained scythe as well. Hisashi was still standing, but he had a few marks showing on his arms and face, and his breathing was ever so slightly heavier.

"Geez, you weren't kidding when you said you were stubborn. Also you've got a damn hard head, my hand is actually sore from that headbutt." Hisashi shook a hand off, though a response didn't come from Soleil. "You're also an annoyingly fast learner. I've never seen someone get a handle on my moves that quickly… well, there is one other person, but she's a damn prodigy… guess you are too. Or maybe it's just because you actually have some experiencing backing you… you even awake?"

"Yeah… I am…" Soleil threw an arm up, letting it flop down in the same motion. "You… are a fucking demon."

"Heh, you're not that far off in that assumption." Hisashi's eyes flashed with a dark light for a moment, though Soleil didn't notice since he was just groaning on the floor. "So, what do you think kid?"

"That I'm an idiot. That I need to get stronger as I already am since I can't rely on this stupid key or that Heiland state."

"Heiland?"

"It's what the state I entered is called… it's like… I guess a counterpart to a Herrscher."

"Huh… "Heiland"… a Savior. Hehehe… did you come up with that yourself?"

"No."

Soleil was just deadpanning things as Hisashi was clearly amused. His body was sore all over, he was pretty sure a couple of his bones had cracked from how hard Hisashi had started to hit him, and he had the iron-like taste of blood in his mouth. So in all fairness Soleil wasn't in the mood to joke around.

"Sorry if I roughed you up to badly." Hisashi sat down himself, Soleil just huffing. "But let me say this too. If you stick with us, you can train all your like in the best conditions we can offer, plus you'll get to go on proper missions, doing more than just running from city to city dealing with small Honkai sources. Plus access to more equipment than whatever you and your old man must have been salvaging. Tailor-made battlesuits, far stronger weapons that only a group like Schicksal can produce... and best of all, a place to actually call home."

"You can quit with that tone… you convinced me." Soleil, still unmoving, let out a long sigh. "I'll stay at St. Freya, and I'll be one of your damn students to boot. But… you've also gotta help me find out what the hell my old man is wrapped up in too… and what happened during and immediately after the 2nd Impact."

"Well, if you wanna do that, then you'll need to become A-Rank."

"I could just hack the database."

"Probably not. The firewalls on our more up to date systems automatically update to counter any threat even if it's only present for a short time. Whatever program you used would be useless by now. Otto's a bit of a bastard but he's a smart one. I wouldn't be surprised if he already knows you're here too."

"Tch… fine then, A-Rank it is." Soleil still didn't move, but at least now he was making more expressions as he spoke. "Just my rotten luck…"

"Heh… honestly I'd say you're actually pretty lucky." Hisashi just got a huff from the boy.

"And look and what I walk in on." The door flew open, and Himeko mugged at Hisashi as the man glanced at her. Soleil just rolled his head enough to look over. "Didn't I say not to be too rough on the kid? Look at him, now he's going to _have _to stay in the infirmary!"

"I made sure not to hit _too _hard. He'll be fine after a couple of days." Hisashi stood again, rolling his arms. "Not that he didn't give me a good couple of licks as payback. Anyway, any news about Kaslana?"

"Theresa just texted me and said she woke up. So, nothing to worry about there. I'll be keeping Raiden and that Zaychik girl at my place since they both agreed. And I'm guessing the boy will be with you right?"

"Obviouisly. I _am _also the overseer for the boys dorm. If I didn't keep those idiots in line there'd be all kinds of trouble… wouldn't be surprised if Empyrean makes some enemies though. They're gonna hate him for being friendly with the Principal's daughter and a pretty transfer girl." The two were then silent for a moment. The adults looked to Soleil, who wasn't responding at all. "You were expecting a snappy remark too right?"

"He does give off the impression of someone who does that." Himeko said, then moving over to Soleil and tapping him with a foot. "Oh… he passed out. Hm… actually has a cute face. If he was a few years older then maybe…"

"Oi. I'm right here." Hisashi said, Himeko chuckling as she twirled around.

"Oh don't get riled up Hisashi. I'm just playin' around. I found my man just fine thanks to you. Not that I won't appreciate a good looking piece of work."

"I'm gettin' you back tonight in that case."

"Hehehe. Good thing _he's _not awake to snark about that one." Himeko then chuckled again as she folded her arms. "We're gonna be super busy because of these brats, aren't we?"

"Most likely yes."


	10. Chapter 10

Honkai Impact 3rd: Empyrean Reality

**Chapter 10: Brand New Day**

Consciousness had finally felt like returning to Kiana. The girl's eyes slowly peeled open as she let out a soft groan. The pressure from bandages wrapped around her was the first thing that registered to Kiana, the next being the fact she was inside of an infirmary room. She looked around a bit as she sat up, confusion on the girl's face.

"Where am I?" As she pondered that, the memory finally came back to Kiana. Of the fighting in Nagazora, defending Mei and Soleil from a Honkai Beast, and of Mei going Herrscher again. But, her attempts to recall more of that were fuzzy. She did remember Soleil helping her, but the image in her mind was vague. She could've sworn something about him had been different in that moment. "Wait, where are they?! I have to…"

Kiana stopped as her panicked scanning and shouting made someone near her stir. A woman with the same silver-white hair as her, stirring awake from resting at the side of the bed. The woman's drowsy gaze slowly opened, revealing her eyes to be the same brilliant blue as Kiana's. The girl's eyes went wide as the woman rubbed the drowsiness out of her face, who then too brought about an expression of surprise.

"Mama?!" Kiana felt like she was about to jump. Her mother, Cecilia Schariac, who she hadn't seen for three years since she and her father had left St. Freya, was somehow now right in front of her in this place she hadn't registered _as _St. Freya yet. "What the… what's going on, why are you…"

"Kiana!" But her mother was clearly far too eager as Kiana spoke her confusion. The girl was pulled into a tight, warm embrace by the woman, who was almost in tears as she tenderly held the girl. "My little girl… I was so worried about you."

"What the… just…" Kiana's confusion didn't last though. She stopped caring in that moment. Wherever she was didn't really matter. Right now she was back with her mother, and it was all she cared for… it was safe, warm. She could at least put aside some worries in the moment she returned Cecilia's embrace. After some quiet moments of just enjoying the reunion, Kiana pulled away. "Mama, what's going on? Where are we? What happened to my friends?"

"It's okay. You're at St. Freya, you're safe now." Cecilia kept a hand on Kiana's face, tears in the woman's eyes. "And don't worry, your friends are fine too. Though they've been awake a bit longer. You got injured pretty badly, and you've been asleep for three days."

"Right, that Honkai Beast that surprised us." Kiana moved a hand to her back, feeling the bandages underneath the hospital gown. "It's good they're okay. But… when did we get to St. Freya? How? That would mean we're in Soukai City!"

"It was thanks to _Hyperion. _Major Murata and Captain Kobayashi arrived on the scene and were able to get you. What do you remember from after you were injured?" Cecilia adjusted her seating, Kiana putting a finger to her head.

"I remember how much it hurt after I got hit… I was out for a bit, and when I woke back up… Soleil-senpai helped me snap Mei-senpai out of the state she was in. That's all I remember."

"Hey! Can we not forget I'm in here too?" Kiana and Cecilia turned when a rather annoyed Theresa, sitting atop a large golden cross, made herself clear. "Sup kid! Been a while hasn't it?"

"… Mama who's this weird girl on the Judah?" Kiana's remark prompted a laugh from her mother. Theresa snapped her fingers as an annoyed glare came to her face. The cross opened and multiple lines tipped in spear points flew from it, binding Kiana by the wrists and legs right quick. "Hey what the heck is this about?!"

"Come on now Theresa, don't get mad like that. It's been three years since Kiana last saw you and… well you've grown quite a bit since then." Cecilia's calm voice eased the mood. Kiana gasped as Theresa clicked her tongue.

"Ehh?! That's Auntie Theresa?! When did you get big? Last I remember you were the size of a little brat!" Kiana just found the bindings getting tighter as Theresa looked annoyed again.

"Need I remind you, Kiana my dear, sweet niece, that I've been bigger than you your entire life?! I haven't been that small for ten years!" As if to demonstrate the point, Theresa puffed out her chest to emphasize it. And this time, rather than calm words, Cecilia gave the "young" woman a smack to the head. "Cecilia!"

"I said calm down. You were just as worried about Kiana as I was, so why not show it a bit?" Again the woman's calm voice eased the mood. Theresa snapped again, and the binds on Kiana retreated. "There we go."

"Though I think we should definitely give her a stern talking to. Honestly Kiana. Not even using an alias, entering a dangerous Honkai zone, were you hoping Siegfried would come running?" Theresa tilted her head, and Kiana then shot right up as soon as her father's name came out.

"What do you think I've been trying to do!? Papa is so stupid! He took me out to go training but then just ran out on me a year ago! All he left was a stupid note saying he had some things to do, and that was it!" Kiana obstinately folded her arms as she pouted. Cecilia went and hugged the girl again, rubbing Kiana's head.

"I'm sure Ziggy has his reasons. Your father _is _a bit of a wild sort, but you know he loves you very much. And besides, he has his obligations as one of our instructors so if he's not back soon, I'm going to have to have some words with him myself."

"Right… ahh, I can't forget though! What about my friends?! You said they're okay but where are they?"

"They're here, don't worry." Theresa said, hopping back onto her cross. "Raiden and Zaychik agreed to join us as Valkyries… as for Sunny, well, I'll have to figure that one out. Captain offered him and last I saw was planning to give him some personal teaching to see if he couldn't… convince him."

"Soleil-senpai definitely will!" Kiana said. "He wouldn't just leave all of a sudden, I know he wouldn't!"

"Now now, calm down a bit Kiana." Cecilia again managed to calm the mood. "If he's your friend then I'm sure there's nothing to worry about… rather, I think we should be worried about how rough the Captain will be with him."

"True. He's not exactly good at holding back." Theresa shrugged, then chuckled. "Anyway, Kiana, you good to move? Cause if you are, we'll go and pay your friends a visit."

"Who do you think you're talkin' to Auntie? I'm tough enough, and I feel perfectly fine! Ugh… there isn't some nasty scar on my back though, is there?" Kiana pat the bandages still wrapping around her torso, and Cecilia shook her head. Kiana sighed in relief. "Okay then let's go… eh, uh, Mama, do you have some clothes for me? My uniform got kinda wrecked."

"Thankfully, Mama thought of that one so I have something ready for you."

"Ah, please stop, the scene is just too sweet." Theresa feigned a sort of pain, earning a laugh from mother and daughter as the young(?) woman leaned back on her perch. Kiana couldn't feel better to be back around these people.

* * *

Soleil felt sore as he began to stir awake. He at least knew why this time, and groaned as he sat up and pried his eyes open. Working out some stiffness in his shoulders, he took inventory. He'd woken up on the large and lengthy couch of a rather ritzy looking living room. A coffee table with leftover papers strewn on it, a few of them stained with rings from a mug no doubt, and a suitably large TV with all kinds of stuff hooked up to it from the shelf below.

The rest of the place was equally nice as Soleil got up and looked around. A sizable dining room kitchen combo on one end, and the other with doors likely leading to different rooms complete with a stairway leading up to more.

"Either I got dragged off to the city after I passed out, or St. Freya just has one hell of a budget." He said, tempted to check the fridge because he felt way too hungry at the moment.

"Well we _do _risk our lives out there, so it makes sense St. Freya would try to make our lives comfortable." Soleil whipped around to see Hisashi leaning on the pillar at the kitchen entrance. "Relax kid. This is just my place at the boy's dorm. There's not a lot of guys here so we have a building to ourselves. Once your enrollment is finished up, you'll get a room of your own. And don't worry, they're not crappy tiny college dorms with way too thin walls. We know what kind of antics some of the students get up."

"TMI." Soleil groaned as Hisashi laughed. "So what's the deal now hm?"

"Well now that you're awake, and clearly prioritizing food, once you're done and say, cleaned up a bit…"

"You're the one who beat the shit out of me."

"… _ahem, _I was gonna stop by Himeko's place at the girl's dorm. Your other two friends'll be staying with her. Kaslana of course will be staying with her mom. So, I was thinking of getting your little band back together."

"Is Kiana even awake?" Soleil leaned against the fridge, Hisashi giving him a look.

"How about this. If she _isn't, _after we check in on the other two, I'll take you to her room to check in on her, sound fair? I'd really like it if you stopped giving me the stink-eye every time I asked you to do something simple."

"Excuse me for being a bit crabby 'cause I'm sore." Soleil sighed again as Hisashi chuckled. "But whatever. So mind also filling me on some things when we're on the way?"

"Sounds fair."

* * *

A summary of what Hisashi explained to Soleil after he'd gotten himself cleaned up would go as such.

St. Freya Academy was a school that had been founded fourteen years prior at the end of the Second Impact event by Cecilia Schariac and Theresa Apocalypse, both having participated in the conflict and decided that, in lieu of the causalities incurred among the Valkyrie forces, to create a place to train new Valkyries that would also keep them safer than most Schicksal facilities. In effect, they had taken the Far East Branch of the organization and turned it into an almost totally autonomous faction of it's own.

Of course, Soleil noted that was sounding a lot like Anti-Entropy, which in the past had itself been the North American branch of the formerly world spanning organization. Which had just gotten a laugh from the captain more than anything. Soleil had gotten the sense there was surely a bit more to that than he was being let on to.

As for the school itself, while in a _theoretical _sense, the distribution of those with Honkai compatibility was about 8:2 from female to male, due to the rarity of it to begin with the practical number was far more skewed. In simple terms, at St. Freya, this meant in the average classroom of around thirty students, rather than an even distribution of 24 girls and 6 boys, it was more like 28 girls and 2 boys or sometimes not even a single boy present.

Hence why the male dorms had rooms where very few of the students had roommates, since there were so few males actually present with the proper ability, enhancable or otherwise, they had the room for it.

True to that, as Soleil and Hisashi crossed the dorm grounds, the former kept his eyes scanning around. He observed that, indeed, the ratio of boys to girls was definitely off kilter towards the latter. It was likely a day off so the students were gathered in the yard. While Soleil wasn't making an exact count, the mentioned ratio definitely applied in some way.

"Oh, hey it's the Captain!"

"Hey there Mr. Kobayashi!"

"Yo Teach who's the new guy?"

"Well, you're popular, aren't you?" Soleil shut an eye as he watched Hisashi greet the various students that wound up chatting them up as they passed, not saying a word himself.

"Well _Hyperion _is St. Freya's pride and joy of a ship. Plus, Himeko and I have a bit of a rep thanks to our service records. And as teacher's go, I'd say I do a pretty fine job at it."

Soleil's resulting look again made the man laugh. He didn't need to say a word for Hisashi to know Soleil was thinking of the "sparring" incursion only a few hours ago now. They continued on until they got to another section of the dorms, though as they got closer to one od the doors, Hisashi perked up a bit.

"Her doors open? Either Himeko forgot to lock it, or someone else got here first." Hisashi said, sighing again. "She better not have left it a mess again."

A commotion coming out of the door made the two hurry to it. First thing was of course the obvious mess that made Hisashi growl. The entryway of the apartment was strewn with all kinds of things, basically like a dumpsite of its own. Soleil's focus, however, was elsewhere. His eyes locked to Kiana and Mei as the girls turned to him. Not even a few seconds after, and the three were in a tight embrace. Bronya stared off from the side with a displeased aura aimed at Kiana, while Himeko leaned on a hand on the floor, flinching once she caught Hisashi giving her a dark smile from the door.

"See? Told you he'd be here!" Kiana chuckled as she looked to Mei, who nodded back to her.

"Don't either of you ever goddamn worry me like that again." Soleil made his grip a bit tighter to make it clear, both girls chuckling as he pulled back a bit. "You're both seriously fine right?"

"Of course we're fine Soleil-senpai! I'm a tought one." Kiana gave a thumbs up.

"Same with me. I'm worried about you too though… after what happened back there, well… what you did." Mei said, Soleil shaking his head as he lowered his arms.

"I'm just as fine. All it did was exhaust me but…" Soleil stole a glance a bit downwards, towards Mei's heart. He shook his head, brushing it aside. She'd chosen that option herself. He wouldn't berate it.

"Well this is a touching reunion." Theresa spoke up, drawing eyes to her. "You've made some nice friends since you were gone, Kiana. Good job! Well… this one's been around for a while actually."

"Heh?" Soleil tilted his head at Theresa, moving his hand almost instinctively as Bronya shifted over and stuck to his side.

"Theresa don't go and confuse him now." Cecilia saide, Soleil giving her a just as questioning look. "Soleil would hardly remember us. He was only three when Sigurd took him away."

"Wat." And the flat response from the fiery haired boy prompted a sigh from Theresa and a chuckle from Cecilia. Kiana went from glaring at Bronya to just as confused looking herself.

"Mama, Auntie, what do you mean by that?" Kiana's question was matched by just as curious looks coming from Mei and the two officers.

"It's not some big deal." Theresa said. "Sunny here was just with his dad at the time around 14 years ago. Cecilia was playing baby sitter since she was still on leave from having you, and the delinquent was helping Siegfried out."

"Wait so that means I met Soleil-senpai when we were little? Hah!" Kiana directing that scoff at Bronya earned her having Bronya just cling tighter to Soleil than she already was. "Ngh… then again I don't really remember a lot from back then."

"It's fine it's fine." Cecilia cooed. "Either way, I'm happy to see you've done well, Soleil. Your father didn't exactly leave Schicksal under good circumstances. None of us from that time have heard anything from him since he left. How is he?"

"Hell if I know. Old man screwed off a year ago and I haven't heard a damn thing." Cecilia hummed at the boy's crass manner of speech.

"See, what'd I tell you? Total delinquent just like his dad." The smug glint in Theresa's eyes brought Soleil to give her a glare.

"You're awfully smug for someone who looks barely older than me." Soleil countered, Theresa huffing.

"I may look forever seventeen, but I'll have you know, I knew you when you were just a little half pint. Feel free to call me anything from aunt to big sister if you want." As Theresa proudly huffed, Kiana waved Soleil over, leaning up to his ear.

"Don't let her fool you. Auntie Theresa looks young but she's actually an old hag." And for _that _Kiana got promptly conked on the head by Theresa's fist. Soleil chuckling behind a hand earned him a hit as well. Bronya's stare then turned on Theresa, but she wound down when Soleil firmly placed a hand on her head as warning.

"Don't get smart with me you brats!" Theresa turned to Hisashi as the teens grumbled. "Captain, what's his choice hmm?"

There was a quiet moment as Hisashi straightened himself out. Kiana and Mei looked expectant as the man did so, and it was dead obvious Hisashi was purposefully building up the tension.

"Well after some sparring…"

"Correction, he kicked my ass for three hours."

"_Sparring!" _The man glared at Soleil for his interruption. Lest Soleil forget the match wasn't _that _one sided, but everyone got the boy was clearly being snide. The smirk was a giveaway. "He decided he'll stick around and enroll like the other too. So that empty dorm the boys've been using for storage is gonna need to get cleared out in a few days."

"Ooh?" Theresa gave Soleil a smug look again, and he returned it with a subtle glare.

"Shoulda seen the state he was in when they were done." Himeko said, giving Hisashi a wide grin. "Kid looked _worse _than when we brought them in."

"I held back." Hisashi said, both Himeko and Soleil giving him gazes of doubt.

"I think that's wonderful news." Cecilia said, and once more she somehow made the air way more relaxed with ease. "So welcome to St. Freya Academy all of you. I promise, though this is a school to train Valkyries to fight, I hope you three will come to think of this place as a home of your own. Don't you think Kiana?"

"Totally. There's a ton of places in the city I can show you all too!" Kiana gave a pace sigh, jumping to hug Soleil and Mei again. Soleil felt a wider smile creep up as the girl laughed. _'I should've figured… this girl's as bright as a full moon among stars.' _he thought. "It's gonna be great!"

And nobody felt like they could disagree with Kiana's enthusiasm. Soleil felt another of those pangs in his head, but the feeling wasn't dreadful. His smile widened a bit more. He instead felt like there was plenty to look forward to from here on. And he was ready for it.

* * *

Sigurd rolled his arms over as he slumped down in the seat of the transport. The extra days he'd taken in the ruins to find what else he could from the Fire Moth facility and other locations strewn about it. Which of course had been it's own kind of exhausting, and he was glad he had a chance to sleep somewhere a bit more proper than against a wall.

"About time you called us in to get you." Or at least he would've had a noisy voice not roused him back up. Sigurd's eyes trailed over to the door of the transport, and from it a young woman strode out, her bouncing red twin tails matched by her narrowed eyes behind slanted glasses. "So Sigurd, how'd your search go? I hope taking longer than you _said _you were came with better results."

"Can't ya' let me at least sleep a bit before drilling my ear open Frederika?" Sigurd sighed while leaning back. Frederika, or as some mostly called her, Tesla, just narrowing her eyes at him. "But yes, it did. I went to some other places to get what I could. 50,000 years doesn't exactly do well for data preservation y'know?"

"The fact you even _found _anything in those old systems is a miracle. You really are lucky." Tesla took the data drive Sigurd produced from his coat, turning it over in her hands. "Soulium records are way more reliable."

"Just do with it what you can. I sure as hell can't decipher those records, so hopefully you find _something _useful in there." Tesla then handed the man a datapad. Sigurd raised a brow as he opened it, flicking across the opened file. "The hell? An Impact happened?"

"A small one anyway." Tesla sat down herself, patting her coat down. "The thing is, unlike the Second Impact fourteen years ago, this one wasn't by random chance." Sigurd gaze a concerned expression. "Cocolia caused it. She set off a small scale Honkai reaction, enough to start an outbreak. The epicenter was in Nagazora, a city I'm sure you know."

"… that's where I left Soleil a year ago." Sigurd clicked his tongue. "Just what the hell was Cocolia trying to do?"

"Awaken a Herrscher." Tesla tapped the datapad, opening a file about Mei. "This is Ryoma's daughter, Mei. Her Stigmata was unleashed when she was eight, and Ryoma sealed her powers before they could run wile. That "therapy" it says she was subjected to was just a cover. The kid actually had the Core of Conquest we had put into her."

"So Cocolia triggered an outbreak to reactivate her Stigmata and awaken the Herrscher." Sigurd concluded, Tesla nodding. "Damn that woman and her obsession with them… she's taking it too far in her attempts to find a way to breach the Sea."

"And you don't? Didn't you say you were working with us to find a way to get there yourself?" Tesla took the pad, Sigurd giving a huff. "You know Cocolia has the same reasons you do. I agree she takes it too far at times though. Anyway, I'm surprised you're not snapping about your kid."

"Soleil'll be fine." He then chuckled. "And if I had to guess, Cocolia sent her little Silver Wolf out there. Bronya's a good kid at heart. If she met Soleil then things'll be alright. And besides, I got friends in the Far East who've probably gotten on that. If Cecilia found him and whoever he's with, then I don't have a thing to worry about."

"If you say so." Tesla tapped the pad again. "Anyway, we'll have another task for you ready in time. Einstein probably has some _other _ruin needing investigating as soon as you're back."

"Hah, sounds like Lizelle." A ping from his own pocket made Sigurd draw out his personal phone. It had to be important since only a few people actually had his number. A smile split the man's face as soon as he saw the message. "Actually Frederika, I've just had a recent change of plans. An old friend wants to meet up with me. He found something interesting."

"You do what you want anyway. Just give the coordinates and we'll be on our way." Tesla left for the front again with that, Sigurd looking back to his phone.

"What did you find out now Siegfried?" The man couldn't help but think back to a time long ago. The events of the Second Impact which hard scarred the world. Even almost a decade and a half later the event still stood strong in people's memories, but the truth of it, however, was not. He knew that though, the events that had really happened and what had been hidden from others. That was the reason he was even here after all. "Kaslana and Empyrean… just how deeply are we connected to the previous civilization?"

* * *

"Lord Otto?"

The man turned in his chair as the door opened. In strode his ever dutiful assistant Amber, her braided white hair bouncing as she entered the room. Otto passed a hand through his own blonde stretch as he leaned on the other hand.

"What is it Amber? I've been rather busy going over the results of the last incident." He said so calmly and orderly. It wouldn't do to seem impatient.

"Theresa just sent in the report from _Hyperion _about the Nagazora incursion." Amber handed him a data chip. Otto plugged it into the terminal before him as he turned back to it, giving a hum. "The file contains both the data from the scans they ran on the city, as well as the results. It seems St. Freya will also be receiving several new transfer students."

"Is that so?" Otto let out a hum as a smile split his face when he saw Kiana's file as he opened the report. "Well now isn't this fortunate! I haven't seen Kiana since her father took her away three years ago. My my, the spitting image of her mother isn't she? And this other one… oh."

Mei's file. When Otto moved to it next, his smile grew wider, but also a hint of wickedness fell upon it. With these files he also knew all about it now. They had their hands on a Herrscher.

"Hahaha! What is this, has fate decided to take my side for once? The only shame is that her Herrscher side can't be controlled! Ah well… so long as I get the chance to observe her in time… perhaps I should send Rita."

"It would be a wise decision I'd say." Amber replied. "Rita is loyal and skilled at observation, plus, as an S-Rank herself for now, Cecilia and Theresa are likely to trust her. However Lord, there is another… like Raiden he's also going to be attending St. Freya."

"He? You don't hear of boys who can adapt to Honkai Energy that often." Otto hummed and moved the file over again. And this time, it wasn't merely delight that split his face. An old spark, one fit with just the smallest tinges of sweet, cathartic spite. "Oh. Hehehe… hahaha! Of all the individuals to find themselves to our fold once more! Hahahaha! The prodigal child has found his way into out arms it seems! Fate must truly be aiding me now! It seems not even those who can fight against it can always escape Destiny's pull now can they?"

"Soleil Empyrean." Amber stayed stoic even with Otto's clear, sardonic delight. "Our records lost trace of him and his father after they left Schicksal fourteen years ago. According to the report, he was among the group of survivors taken from Nagazora, which included Kiana Kaslana and Mei Raiden, plus one other we do not have a file on currently. What do you think, Lord Otto?"

"I think we should keep a close eye on the young Empyrean in the future. I doubt he holds any trust in Schicksal, but, I'd be a fool not to try and find uses for his abilities." Otto leaned back in his chair as his eyes remained on the mug shot of Soleil. "He looks so akin to him as well. As if they could have been brothers were they born in the same era."

"Lord Otto?" Amber tilted her head. Otto waved a hand.

"Nothing, Amber. Just reminiscing on older times is all." Otto placed his hands before his mouth as he chuckled. The future would surely be a fortuitous one if he was to play his cards right. He certainly looked forward to what would come of this development. "The pieces are falling into place."

* * *

Soleil had decided to enjoy the night air a bit after the hecticness the day had become after the reunion of the group. No doubt thanks to the efficient technology of Soukai City, the night sky was in full visibility, painted end to end in nebulae, and stars. The now waning moon was high in the time, brightly shining against all of it.

"So, the decisive point has passed for now." Soleil sighed as he saw the world slow down while passing the fountain. Appearing on the bench was Sozo, yet again in the visage of that girl who's face so closely resembled his own.

"What's the idea this time hm? Also, I've got questions about a memory I saw the other day." Sozo raised a hand as Soleil gave them a glare. "Come on, don't get cryptic on me again."

"I'm not trying to be. What you saw was a memory your Stigmata bore, that is all. I'm here tonight to give you… well, I'm sure warning is the word I'm looking for." Sozo stood and pat down their blue dress's skirt. Soleil leaned on a leg, the being then holding up two fingers. "Two years. In a little over two years' time from now, an event will take place, one that can't be avoided in what it causes."

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Simply, that there are some instances in time that can't be changed. Call it a Quantum Lockdown if you will. Sometimes not even a shift in the world line is enough to avoid certain events, especially when two worlds stand very close to each other." Sozo lowered their hand, their expression becoming a bit somber. "In the world line that this one branched off of, this event led to a deal of tragedy and turmoil for many. Where it continued was one thing, and I would dare say it even went well but… well, you found your way to this world for a reason."

"… that dream I had the day of the Impact." Soleil recalled it. A battle against someone with a burning sword… a foe he didn't have a hope of defeating. That was the feeling the dream had carried. He knew he couldn't have won, so the thought had become "If I could have a chance to try again." That was the feeling that had nagged him since he'd had that dream. "Just what the hell is even going on? What's so big in two years it's an event that can't be changed?"

"Right now it wouldn't do any good to tell you what it is. Only that the event is inevitable." Sozo sighed, looking up to the sky. "So use that time to prepare. Grow stronger and gather allies, aim to create a possibility that even when faced with an inevitably tragedy, you can find a path that avoids the harshest version of the following future. Aim to save ones who couldn't be, and, simply, rewrite the story."

"Well now I think I know where my family got our motto from." Soleil gave a chuckle. "And another thing. Who's the girl you look like right now? How am I connected to her?"

"Believe me or not, but she's someone you've already met." Sozo's remark just confused Soleil. But, considering the resemblance, it didn't leave a wide variety of possibilities for him to think of. "She can't show herself that well however. She is waiting however, for you and Bronya. You two will find her eventually… you already have one time before."

"Seele." The name went through Soleil's mind again. As the world began moving once more with Sozo fading from view, Soleil looked up to the sky again. "So, an event in two years, and a young girl who I share a resemblance too… it's just mystery after mystery with that one isn't it?"

Soleil drew out his pendant and rolled the key across his palm. But, he figured, if he had this warning then he could surely do it. Time to prepare and grow stronger… to avoid the future where he ended up in a hopeless battle, with results beyond it he didn't know. So he looked up to the shining moon again, like it was a guide in the sky.

"If I'm going to change our futures… heh, then I'll sure need a ton of help to do it, won't I?" He closed his fingers around the key and held it up, the moonlight glinting off the blue item. "Well then, guess I'm gonna be busy."

His path forward had been decided now. A student of St. Freya Academy, a Valkyrie in training. At least for now, the future was certainly looking bright.

* * *

**A/N**

**Agh work has been giving me such a bad case of burnout for writing. Glad I got this done, cause it draws the beginning arc to a close and now I can get into a whole HEAP of stuff concerning the other side materials… and some ideas of my own. We've got a ways to go before getting to the main story, that's for damn sure. I have also been playing a bunch of the Post Honkai Odyssey mode so that was certainly helpful. Alrighty then, seeya next chapter… whenever that may be.**


	11. Bonus Chapter 1

**Bonus Chapter 1**

**Heyo folks Seiker here. So before I get to the next part of Empyrean I kinda felt like making this extra chapter to kinda explain where some of the story elements I pulled when working on the first arc came from. As some of you noted in reviews, Honkai Impact kinda suffers from chronic gacha game syndrome of having a ton of lore and character elements squirreled away in side materials that are either a pain in the ass to find or damn near impossible for some to discover. Like did you know there's two visual novel stories about Anti-Entropy and Durandal? And both of them have pretty important lore snippets, like showing us who the original Welt was or explaining why Durandal is so god forsakenly strong. Not like those are things some of us can even hope to find easily.**

**Anyway, this first arc actually starts off referencing Mihoyo's previous game, Gunz Girl Z, which I've actually played before. Unfortunately, the game has a pretty poor translation. But basically, all the events up to Chapter 7 adapt some of that game in a **_**loose **_**sense of the word. Chapter 7 is when the story starts referring to actual HI3 side materials, in this case the **_**Escape from Nagazora **_**manga. With obvious touches of my own thanks to additional characters or added elements.**

**Like Sozo. Yeah that entire idea was based in "what if there was some force counteractive to Honkai?" Now granted it's in a restrained manner. Sozo doesn't have the kind of reach in power Honkai does as a force, and there is a certain element about their nature that's currently spoilers for future plans, so I'll leave that up to your guys' imagination for now. As for the terminology used, as was noted "Heiland" is just kinda one of several German words that can equate to "Savior." I was actually thinking of using "Retter", but I liked the sound of Heiland better. Cause hey what better to counter a "Ruler" than a "Savior".**

**And then in the realm of hypotheticals, there's persay how Soleil would function as a playable character of some manner. Think of mechanics in a sorta of Dante-lite fashion from Devil May Cry. True to how he operates here, his weapon type would be "Sets", consisting of a few weapons he can switch between to change his engagement ability on the fly. Offset of course by not being as specialized as other characters to avoid being TOO strong on his own.**

**So anyway I definitely plan to make what I can out of other side materials, which means we're taking some time before getting to the main story of the game itself… plus some ideas to add a bit more and just have some things to do… like say a certain Sin Hunter and Vampire… Anyway, I'll be planning out the next arc for a bit before updating this again, so seeya then! And if some of you have questions, feel free to PM me. I'll give the best answers I can without going into spoilers if that's how you roll.**


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